Stories from The Histories - The Original White Walkers

When governments, cities, countries had no missiles, guns and big buttons of course to assert their military strength, they had to be a bit more subtle and find tactics to defeat an enemy which had mainly access to the same arsenal: swords, shields, arrows and a lot of grit.

For example, first of all, 99% of the battles of the Ancient World occured during the day because... well, you need to be able to see your enemies in order to butcher them... So, how could you manage to turn the night at your advantage? Guess what, a Greek found a solution:

When the Phocians were trapped on Mount Parnassus, a diviner called Tellias of Elis was there with them, and he devised a cunning plan. He had the six hundred best Phocian fighters rub themselves and their weapons with chalk and attack the Thessalians at night, with instructions to kill anyone they saw who was not all white.

[Source]

A rather cunning trick indeed, perfect to strike fear in the heart of the opponent! 

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Herodotus was a Greek citizen who lived and died in the Vth century BC, hailing from the town of Halicarnassus in modern-day Turkey. He is widely considered as "the Father of History", even if he had a fascination for alternative stories which earned him the nickname of "Father of Lies". It means that he was the first (known) writer to talk about the deeds of men in an analytical way, looking for the causes and consequences of events, and recording customs, events, deeds, battles, wars and speeches with always in mind to find the germ of truth among all the tall tales of poetry and propaganda.

 Source: The Histories of Herodotus, Oxford University Press.