Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VI: Spartan Battle

This week, the part you have all been waiting for - we're going to look at how the Spartans fought. This is part six of our series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective) looking at Sparta and its place in cultural memory. As we discussed briefly before, there are two core myths … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VI: Spartan Battle

Collections: War Elephants, Part II: Elephants against Wolves

Today, in Part II of our three part series on War Elephants, we're going to look at the drawbacks of war elephants. Last time (here), we discussed the factors that made war elephants so powerful on the battlefield. To recap: war elephants had a strong psychological element (they are very scary) and could drastically disrupt … Continue reading Collections: War Elephants, Part II: Elephants against Wolves

Collections: War Elephants, Part I: Battle Pachyderms

Today we're starting the first part of our three part series on War Elephants (by reader request!). In this first part, we're going to talk about how elephants performed in battle: how did they fight and what was their battlefield purpose? The second two parts will focus on the (as we'll see) far more important … Continue reading Collections: War Elephants, Part I: Battle Pachyderms