It is mentioned by Curtius and Strabo, no less than by Xenophon; and the last-named writer speaks with full knowledge on the subject, for he witnessed the effect of the weapon in the hands of Persian slingers during his return with the Ten Thousand.

The only missiles which the Persian slingers threw were stones; they did not, like the Rhodians, make use of small lumps of lead.
The knife seems also to have been a Persian weapon.

Its blade appears to have been slightly curved, like that of a pruning-hook.

It was worn in a sheath, and was probably thrust into the belt or girdle like the similar weapon, half knife, half dagger, of a modern Persian.
The ordinary defence of the Persian against the weapons of his enemy was a shield of wicker-work, which covered him almost from head to foot, and which probably differed little from the wattled shield of the Assyrians.

[PLATE XXX., Fig.