{"id":4686,"date":"2022-08-31T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=4686"},"modified":"2022-08-18T02:13:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T02:13:15","slug":"from-whistling-arrows-and-trumpeting-elephants-to-battle-cries-and-eerie-horns-ancient-soldiers-used-sound-to-frighten-and-confuse-their-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/from-whistling-arrows-and-trumpeting-elephants-to-battle-cries-and-eerie-horns-ancient-soldiers-used-sound-to-frighten-and-confuse-their-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"From whistling arrows and trumpeting elephants to battle cries and eerie horns, ancient soldiers used sound to frighten and confuse their enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Three soldiers (far right) carry karnyxes, long horns with frightening boar-headed mouths that produce eerie calls during battle.\n Prisma\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nAdrienne Mayor<\/a>, Stanford University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

As if the tumultuous din of battle is not horrendous enough, over the ages humans have discovered plenty of ways to exploit sound in warfare. I found an astonishing variety of ancient acoustic weapons while researching my book<\/a> \u201cGreek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs<\/a>: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World.\u201d Deploying sound in war has evolved over millennia, from natural animal sounds and music to today\u2019s advanced sonic devices.<\/p>\n\n

Calling a jig in the midst of battle<\/h2>\n\n

In antiquity, cavalry horses were trained to endure the piercing pipe music<\/a> that led armies to battle. But a clever reversal of this training could spell victory.<\/p>\n\n

In the seventh century B.C., the Kardians of Thrace, who lived in what is now northwest Turkey, were renowned for their cavalry. For entertainment, the mounted soldiers taught their horses to dance to pipes played at drinking parties. Rearing up and pawing the air, the horses kept time to the lively music.<\/p>\n\n

Captured as a boy from Bisaltia in northeastern Greece, a prisoner named Naris heard about the marvelous dancing horses in the Kardian barbershop where he worked. According to the story recounted by the ancient Greek writer Athenaeus<\/a>, Naris escaped, returned to Bisaltia, and prepared to make war on Kardia.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"bronze<\/a>\n
\n The horses threw their riders when they recognized the tunes and started to dance.<\/span>\n ‘Rearing Horse and Mounted Warrior,’ Leonardo da Vinci<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

He had a secret weapon: a piper girl who had also escaped from Kardia. She taught the Bisaltian soldiers songs from Kardian banquets. Naris led his army out against the Kardian cavalry and signaled for his pipers to play. Pricking up their ears at the familiar tunes, the Kardian horses reared up to dance, throwing off their riders. In the chaos, the Bisaltians crushed the Kardians.<\/p>\n\n

When squeals terrorize living tanks<\/h2>\n\n

Cavalrymen of classical antiquity accustomed their horses to the clash of bronze weapons. But in the fourth century B.C., when Alexander the Great\u2019s successors brought war elephants from India<\/a>, the animals\u2019 trumpeting threw horses into a frenzy. <\/p>\n\n

\n \"Soldiers<\/a>\n
\n Alexander driving off elephants with pigs and musical instruments in a detail from a French illuminated manuscript from 1420.<\/span>\n ‘Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre,’ The British Library<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Alexander had learned from King Porus<\/a> during his 326 B.C. Indian campaign that elephants have sensitive hearing and poor eyesight<\/a>, which makes them averse to unexpected loud, discordant sounds. When Alexander\u2019s scouts reported that elephants were approaching, Porus advised Alexander\u2019s horsemen to grab up pigs and trumpets and ride out to meet them. The shrill sound of the pigs combined with blaring trumpets sent the elephants fleeing.<\/p>\n\n

In 280 B.C., the Romans first encountered war elephants<\/a>, brought to Italy by Greek King Pyrrhus. The riders in the howdah seats upon their backs created an ear-splitting commotion with drums and clanging spears, causing the Romans and their horses to panic.<\/p>\n\n

But Romans noticed that Pyrrhus\u2019 elephants were unnerved by high-pitched squeals of swine. Like Alexander, the Romans deployed pigs to deflect Pyrrhus\u2019 pachyderms, which contributed to his heavy losses. Later, in 202 B.C., blasts of Roman war trumpets panicked Carthaginian general Hannibal\u2019s war elephants<\/a> in the Battle of Zama, ending the Second Punic War.<\/p>\n\n

Some commanders tried to obtain an elephant or two to condition their horses in advance of battle. Perseus of Macedon prepared for a Roman attack with war elephants in 168 B.C. by having artisans build wooden models of elephants on wheels. Pipers hidden inside the huge mock-ups played harsh sounds, acclimating the Macedonian horses to the sight and sound of elephants. But Perseus\u2019 preparations were for naught. Even though the mountainous terrain at the Battle of Pydna got the better of the Romans\u2019 20 elephants, Rome was victorious<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

War cries and wailing weapons<\/h2>\n\n

Bloodcurdling war cries<\/a> are a universal way of striking terror in foes. Maori war chants, the Japanese battle cry \u201cBanzai!\u201d (Long Live the Emperor) in World War II, the Ottomans\u2019 \u201cVur Ha!\u201d (Strike), the Spanish \u201cDesperta Ferro!\u201d (Awaken the Iron), and the \u201cRebel Yell\u201d of Confederate soldiers are examples<\/a>. In antiquity, the sound of Greek warriors bellowing \u201cAlala!\u201d while banging swords on bronze shields was likened to hooting owls or a screeching flock of monstrous birds.<\/p>\n\n

The Roman historian Tacitus described the hair-raising effects of the barritus<\/a>, the war cry of Germanic tribes. The Germans devised a simple technique for intensifying the barritus, which began as a low murmur. The chanting became a roar, then rose to a reverberating crescendo as the men held up their shields in front of their mouths to amplify the thunderous sound.<\/p>\n\n

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