Occasionally they employed the destructive force of fire, and no doubt they often succeeded by the common method of escalade.

On the whole, it must certainly be said that they were successful in their sieges, exhibiting in their conduct of them courage, activity, and considerable fertility of resource.
A Persian army was usually, though not always, placed under a single commander.

This commander was the monarch, if he was present; if not, it was a Persian, or a Mede, nominated by him.

Under the commander-in-chief were a number of general officers, heads of corps or divisions, of whom we find, in one instance, as many as nine.

Next in rank to these were the chiefs of the various ethnic contingents composing the army, who were, probably, in general the satraps of the different provinces.