Quote Originally Posted by PBI View Post
I always wondered about this; why didn't the Greeks, aware that the right flank of a phalanx would be weaker due to the shields being on the wrong side, simply form a unit of left-handed spearmen to hold the right flank?

Similarly, in medieval castles, spiral staircases were designed to favour the defenders in a swordfight, since a right-handed swordsman climbing the stairs would have his swing blocked by the the central column; why didn't an attacking army form a special unit of left-handed swordsmen just for taking stairwells?

I suppose it might not have made an enormous difference, and I suppose by the time soldiers were fighting on staircases the siege was probably nearly over anyway, but it always bugged me.
Due to the stigma attached to being left handed back then it might have been hard to get volunteers for your specialist unit.

Old words for right and left are Dexter (Right) and Sinister (left obviously). Sinister eventually also came to mean what it does now, something menacing or evil.

With that kind of prejudice it's no wonder left handed types did their best to avoid getting noticed.