the bow, and the Persian arrows like the Indian were of reed. Aeschylus praises "the mighty with the bow, the strength of the Persian land," and Atossa, the queen of Darius, is represented as asking whether "the bow-driven arrow adorns the hand" of the Hellenes.[410] The Persians preferred to fight on horseback. The rider placed a coat of mail over the short shirt, and beside the bow and a short javelin carried a crooked and not very long sabre on the right hip;[411] the head was protected by the tiara. But there were also large divisions of heavy armed cavalry among the troops of the Persians in which the men wore brass or iron helmets and strong harness, while their horses were armed with frontlets and breast-pieces.[412] The infantry carried long rectangular shields of wicker-work, under which hung the quiver with the javelin and sabre, but as a rule they were without coats of mail.[413] The leading men and officers were adorned in battle with their best purple robes, neck-chains, and armlets; over the coat of mail they threw the glittering kandys; on the hip hung a sabre with a golden handle and a golden sheath. Thus they mounted their war-horses, Nisaean greys, with golden trappings, the wildness of which sometimes caused the death of the rider. Aeschylus speaks of them as "horsemen mighty with the bow, dreadful to behold, and terrible in the venturous courage of their hearts."[414] In military skill the Persians regarded the Medes as next to themselves; then followed the Sacae, the Bactrians, the Indians, and the other Arian tribes. Next to the Medes the Sacae were the most trustworthy troops.[415] The contingents of the provinces were governed by Persian generals, who were mainly taken from the members of the royal family, the "kinsmen" of the king, and the tribal princes.[416] Like the Persian troops, these contingents were arranged in divisions of 10,000 men. Each division was subdivided into ten battalions of 1000 men, and the battalions into ten companies of 100 men; the company was made up of groups, which, according to Xenophon, consisted of seven men among the Persians, and according to Herodotus of ten in the contingents.[417] The commander of the entire contingent of a province had the nomination of the officers of divisions and the leaders of battalions; the officers of divisions, as Herodotus says, nominated the captains of companies, and the leaders of the groups.[418] The native dynasts as a rule marched out with their troops and ships, but they were subject to the commanders of the contingents.[419]