Even this leaves it doubtful whether they themselves practised it: for the singers and musicians represented as uniting their efforts are not Assyrians, but Susianians, who come out to greet their conquerors, and do honor to the new sovereign who has been imposed on them, with singing, playing, and dancing.
Assyrian bands were variously composed.

The simplest consisted of two harpers.

A band of this limited number seems to have been an established part of the religious ceremonial on the return of the monarch from the chase, when a libation was poured over the dead game.

The instrument in use on these occasions was the antique harp, which was played, not with the hand, but with the _plectrum_.

A similar band appears on one occasion in a triumphal return from a military expedition belonging to the time of Sennacherib.