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On the other side, let me remind you that the flute makes a piercing sound which can be heard from a distance and distinguished among other battle noises, don't forget that 16th-19th c infantry was using flutists alongside drummers on the field.
Just think of a sports match with thousands of spectators making noise...
Diodoros describes a signal-ribbon tied to a spear (at Leuctra in 371):Diodoros XV.52.5: "Though Epameinondas astounded the cautious by his forthright answer, a second omen appeared more unfavourable than the previous one. For as the grammateus advanced with a spear and a ribbon attached to it and signalled the orders from headquarters, a breeze came up and, as it happened, the ribbon was torn from the spear and wrapped itself around a slab that stood over a grave, and there were buried in this spot some Lacedaemonians and Peloponnesians who had died in the expedition under Agesilaus."There's a reconostruction in the background at https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/bd/ce/9abdce045eb25f80bdf2bca55dfb98a9.jpgProper standards seem to come in only with the Macedonians - see https://bookandsword.com/2014/06/01/the-bronze-battle-scene-from-pergamon/, at the extreme left of the illustration.
I improvised a number of philosophers for my Hellenic armies. They were quite fun to put together, and are a good way of checking if a new player was listening during the days of his or her education.http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10744.0.htmlI've subsequently added Plato, with a slave behind him holding up a wooden cutout showing a deformed rabbit, and a burning torch behind the slave to cast a shadow. Haven't got around to taking a photograph of that one.