I'd like to think of myself more like an Odysseus, but I'll accept Ajax as well. There are a lot of misconceptions about how fighting was in ancient times/pre-gunpowder. People assume there were a lot more casualties, which is just false- people don't want to die. They generally run away when they realize "If I stay here, I'm going to die", and the generally will not charge face first into a wall of spears+shields at a full fucking sprint. Much safer to carefully, in a disciplined fashion, advance as a unit and engage as a unit. But that doesn't look good on film. So, what we see in these film battles, is every man from each army pairs up with an enemy and engages in 1 on 1 duels, and this happens on a massive scale through the entire battlefield. This is so fucking retarded if you think about it just for a bit. Think about how we play sports like rugby or American football. The entire purpose of sport, originally, was to *simulate battle* in a controlled, mostly safe environment for young boys growing up. In team sports, it's almost always the team with better teamwork and discipline that wins- it's no different in war. One superstar spearman might kill a few of the enemy very impressively, but if a guy with an axe gets passed his spearpoint, he'll die just as fast as anyone else. But if he has three men- one at each side and one at his back- who can see the enemy's attacks coming toward the star spearman, they can block and parry and deflect *for him* as he does the same for them. An army of individuals is quickly overcome by an army of units, and units behave as if they are one individual. When that sort of "hive mind" breaks, that's when the unit is broken and they want to run.