4.] Sometimes it appears to be of metal: but more often it is of wickerwork, either of the plain construction common in Sargon's time, or of one considerably more elaborate.
Among the foot soldiers of Sennacherib we seem to find a corps of pioneers.

They wear the same dress as the better equipped of the spearmen, but carry in their hands, instead of a spear, a doubled-headed axe or hatchet, wherewith they clear the ground for the passage and movements of the army.

They work in pairs, one pulling at the tree by its branches while the other attacks the stem with his weapon.
After Sennacherib's time we find but few alterations in the equipment of the foot soldiers.

Esarhaddon has left us no sculptures, and in those of his son and successor, Asshur-bani pal, the costumes of Sennacherib are for the most part reproduced almost exactly.

The chief difference is that there are not at this time quite so many varieties of equipment, both archers and spearmen being alike divided into two classes only, light armed and heavy-armed.