Total War Saga: Troy - general discussion

[ConjurerDragon]

Yes, that one.

Given that a lot of the depictions were Athenian and the Athenians had a citizen-army the potters probably would have seen practicing it seem incredible that they would consistently misrepresent the use of the primary hoplite weapon.

On the other hand, there's very little you can do with an overhand spear except stab downwards.

Throw it?

There are a lot of possible reasons why pictures could be unlike reality.
Artistic freedom - I do not want to depict it like that because my work of art should look like this.
Potters with limited talent who outsourced the painting to others who did not observe the militia training firsthand.
Untalented painters - Sure, a spear looks like that when used, but I can only draw it like that, else noone would recognize that it is a spear.
Religious taboos: Oh no, you can’t depict a spear that way, the youth might misuse the amphores decorations as templates for nether actions.
Heroic posture: The real use of a spear hardly looks inspiring, but depicted THAT way the fighter looks like a heros.
A for us hidden code that would have been obvious to the ancient observer: e.g. like in western movies the good guys alway wore white and the bad guys black cowboy hats. Perhaps the underhanded spear user was the evil guy and the good guy had to be depicted using it overhand? Or you could see from the position of the spear who the winner of the battle was - everyone knew that the winning fighter had to be depicted using the spear overhand...

After all even the much later tapestry of Bayeux is suspected not to show real life in every dirty realistic detail but an artistic expression of the events.