Metropolitan Digital

Men's Weekly


.

From whistling arrows and trumpeting elephants to battle cries and eerie horns, ancient soldiers used sound to frighten and confuse their enemies

  • Written by Adrienne Mayor, Research Scholar, Classics and History and Philosophy of Science, Stanford University
From whistling arrows and trumpeting elephants to battle cries and eerie horns, ancient soldiers used sound to frighten and confuse their enemiesThree soldiers (far right) carry karnyxes, long horns with frightening boar-headed mouths that produce eerie calls during battle.Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

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...

Read more: From whistling arrows and trumpeting elephants to battle cries and eerie horns, ancient soldiers...

More Articles ...

  1. More than 1 in 5 US adults don’t want children
  2. Coyotes are here to stay in North American cities – here's how to appreciate them from a distance
  3. Charities that don't embrace common financial norms tend to outperform their peers
  4. 4 ways to get the new school year off to a good start
  5. Many drugs have mirror image chemical structures – while one may be helpful, the other may be harmful
  6. Why Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan puts the White House in delicate straits of diplomacy with China
  7. Who was Ayman al-Zawahri? Where does his death leave al-Qaida and what does it say about US counterterrorism?
  8. Fueled by virtually unrestricted social media access, white nationalism is on the rise and attracting violent young white men
  9. Congress is considering making same-sex marriage federal law – a political scientist explains how this issue became less polarized over time
  10. 5 of the biggest threats today's K-12 students and educators face don't involve guns
Metropolitan republishes selected articles from The Conversation USA with permission

Visit The Conversation to see more