Today's Students Re-enact Ancient Battles

A few dozen Knox College students recently got a foam-padded lesson in what it was like to fight as foot soldiers in Greek, Roman, and Celtic armies of the ancient world.

They took up toy weapons, received lessons in battle tactics from a fellow student who's researching ancient warfare, and acted out some brief skirmishes in Knox's T. Fleming Fieldhouse.

"Ancient warfare was very close, bloody and brutal," said senior history major Tim Berner, the student who developed the workshop. "Movies and games often don't do that justice."

As part of his independent study course in ancient warfare this term, Berner worked with students in the Ancient Greek History course taught by assistant professor Danielle Fatkin. The goal was to show differences among fighting styles of Greeks, Romans, and Celts.

"I'm interested in both the social ideology—the reasons for warfare in ancient history—and in the experiences of individual soldiers doing the fighting," Berner explained. His project was supported by a grant from Knox's Richter program.

After dividing the class into three armies and handing out plastic swords, shields, and spears, Berner gave details on how to fight like hoplites. "They were the ancient Greek soldiers, and this is technically an ancient Greek history course." The students also simulated Roman and Celtic battle formations—Greeks vs. Romans and Romans vs. Celts.

"My field of interest is Celtic studies," Berner said. If each army had faced both of the others, "I believe the Celts would have won."

Sophomore Beau Gabel signed up for the course to learn more about the history behind Greek mythology. He found himself assigned to the Greek army.

"We had these short spears. I thought it would be easy," Gabel said. "It was a lot harder than I expected it to be."

Gabel, who also plays linebacker for Knox's Prairie Fire football team, noted the similarities between the two games. "In football you attack one common goal, fighting along with several other people against a larger group. We need to work together."

As the foam and plastic were cleared from the fake field of battle, Fatkin said the activity helps students to better understand the events they're reading about.

"We're studying the Peloponnesian war, and this helps you to think about what it was like to be a hoplite in one of their battles," Fatkin told the students. "Now you can imagine a little bit of what it meant, and engage with the material in new and different ways."

Photos above and below: Students in a history class test Roman, Greek and Celtic battle tactics, in a workshop developed by another student as part of an independent study in ancient warfare.