Many accounts were given of the death of Cyrus. According to the legend, Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, believed Cyrus responsible for the death of her son, who had committed suicide in captivity. Tomyris first defeated Cyrus in battle, and then subjected his body to indignity. She ordered his severed head to be plunged into a container of blood, saying, “Now… you have your fill of blood.” It is interesting that the container, described by Herodotus as a skin, has become an ornate metal vessel in the tapestry, decorated with the scene of Judith holdings the head of Holofernes. The earliest known representation of Tomyris with the head of Cyrus is found in the fourteenth-century Speculum humanae salvationis, where she is bracketed with Judith (triumphing over Holofernes) and Jael (over Sisera). The three prefigure the Virgin Mary who triumphed over Satan through the death of her son. Illustrations of the Speculum are usually set in a battleground, and the tapestry has retained this setting. The tapestry has the same mountain scenery and leafy foreground as its companion piece, although large sections of the plants have been rewoven, as has the area surrounding the head of Cyrus and the head itself. Other versions show a head quite handsome in death, with dark hair and beard. The vigorous and barbaric character of the Massagetae is communicated in pictorial detail. They are represented as a nation of archers. The central warrior carries a curious case with projecting bow and arrows. Tomyris, who hands her bow to an attendant, has a quiver of arrows on her left hip. Another Amazon with a bow stands in the mid-distance. In the background, Massagetae warriors occupy the high ground, from which vantage point they hurl rocks and spears on the enemy caught in the narrow canyon. Two strange war machines in the form of huge bows are being drawn and aimed at the invaders. Costume design and fabric attempt to further express the Scythian character. The archer carrying out the queen's order wears a tunic of the kind of exotic brocaded pattern typical of fourteenth-century weaving at Lucca. Behind him, the graybeard lifting his hand in horror is dressed in a textile with calligraphic strips suggesting Persian or Arabic writing. Headdresses and weaponry are all strange and anticlassical, intended as an indication of the wild and unpredictable nature of Tomyris's people. From Anna Gray Bennett, "Five Centuries of Tapestry: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco" (San Francisco: Chronicle Books; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1976; repr. 1992): p. 156.