The show runners of Game of Thrones (the HBO television which will actually complete its run under its original creators) admitted that they patterned part of the battle in yesterday’s episode on the Battle of Cannae. This was obvious to me, as I was actually thinking that the Boltons were exhibiting something similar to the Carthaginian double envelopment. Pretty cool synthesis of a callback to The Two Towers, as well as integrating real history.*
If you want to read a great description of Cannae, I’d recommend Adrian Goldsworthy’s The Punic Wars.
* Somewhat anachronistically, as the phalanx formation was used by the Romans, and perhaps not the Carthaginians.
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