Haiku & History Day Five!
Coward on the Front Line - The Dark Side of Ancient Light [Haiku & History]
Coward on the Front Line
Blamed for all their deaths
You could not hold the front line
How do you still live?
Most Greek hoplite warriors were farmers. Spartans were an exception, they lived in the barracks, professional full-time soldiers. The front line of the phalanx, and the entire unit, would be fellow landholders in one territory. You would be serving with your fellow countrymen, people you have known your whole life, your neighbors and relatives. In phalanx style combat, the front line must hold against the enemy to prevail in the initial stage of battle. To break a unit, is to crash the front line and divide the unit in to smaller parts to be picked off of who will retreat in disarray. It is then that the cavalry often chase those fleeing, or the battle for that war season was over as the enemy fled back home to prepare for the harvest season. If the front line doesn’t hold, and a member of the front is alive while everyone else dies, this might be met with suspicion.
