"What IF...There Were Zombie ‘Apocalypses’ In Ancient Times?" Topic

QUESTIONS

- So how would Ancient peoples deal with a Zombie-like plague?

- Would they do better or worse in handling the infected than "Zombie Apocalypse" survivors would today?

Dan
PS. These entirely unrelated articles and topics are what got me started wondering (which is never a good thing):
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What a coincidence, I was just talking about the zombie acropolis this morning.

They'd probably be wearing more armor (unlike most of those modern fools running around in their t-shirts).

…and Greek Fire should work pretty well vs. zombies.

There were more people then than now that knew how to handle an axe, hoe or bow…

"…that knew how to handle an axe, hoe…"

Hey ! Don't you talk about my wife like that.

Seriously, there are minis and rules for that time period. I've seen AARs posted here on TMP.

Armored warriors well familiar with head-lopping weapons… I think the ancients would do quite well.

OTOH, one probably shouldn't have depended on the sense of smell to differentiate between the living and undead way back then… :-p

The Zombie Survival Guide has a couple instances of Ancients vs Zombies, more specifically the graphic novel of TZSG does.

By the way, you don't use fire on zombies. You just end up with flaming zombies that are now harder to dispatch in melee combat.

Fewer people alive, fewer zombies. More armor and hand to hand weapons = Zombies don't stand a chance. Now if the rodents turned into zombies and still ate the granaries the ancients are in serious trouble.

Speaking of ancients there's a novel Zombies of Byzantium that has a zombie outbreak at the time of the great Arab siege of Constantinople in 717AD. The Arab besiegers and Byzantines had to team up to wipe out the zombies. And use of Greek Fire is key to breaking up zombie concentrations. As Walking Dead shows an arrow in the head is just as effective as a bullet and both sides have plenty of armor.

Another thing, people of the ancient world would be much more likely to adapt to the situation. They have belief in magic, monsters, and such. So they wouldn't waste time looking for a cure or any such nonsense. They would just set about getting the job done.

Head shots with slings? David is going to be in great demand….

The "worldwide devastation" where your Band of Hard-Luck Survivors(TM) wander looking for food, arms and ammunition isn't going to occur, since most "cities" have a large band of agriculture around them, and even inside them. Sure, Rome Athens or Byzantium might need to import their grain, but most cities will be relatively self-sufficient.

The modern trope that everything is trucked in doesn't occur.

Well didn't the plague wipe out about 1/3 or 1/4 of the planet's population ? But zombies … they may have cleared up much more …

> Fewer people alive, fewer zombies. More armor and hand to hand weapons = Zombies don't stand a chance.

They should not stand a chance in modern times, all it should take is hub to hub harvestors, or industrial grinders, or street paving machines, or…

But no, the idiots go out with guns.

Dynaman8789"But no, the idiots go out with guns."

Lol. Sometimes not even that.

Sometimes they just grab a samurai sword they've never touched before in their lives, but they suddenly wield it like a master swordsman. I guess that being from the 21st century gives them special powers. ;)

Dan

Chances are that the samurai sword they grab is a "For Display Only" replica that will break while slashing at the second zombie they meet… ;-)

I've been running Viking vs. zombie games for a few more years. The players get a bit more involved when they can't stand back and shoot 'em!

Sometimes they just grab a samurai sword

Or a claw hammer…

@ flashcove

Your Viking vs zombie games are usually the perfect remedy for my hangover addled brain each Sunday. I missed your game last year…I am hoping to convince you to let me bring on a surprise group of intelligent and armed Draugr led by a Necromancer for the consternation your normally complacent players expecting only dumb opponents! I painted up a bunch of them for Blood Eagle.

See you at Bayou Wars.

The same way they dealt with other disasters. Mostly dying. A few making it through and then repopulating.

They could probably do better against zombies, than something like Alien…

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Chalfant

> The same way they dealt with other disasters. Mostly dying

With a zombie plague dying doesn't help all that much.

Ya gotta get a Gris Gris man on your side.

Robert: "Or a claw hammer"

Lol. Yeah, I've seen that too, and with very mixed results.

Dan

I've seen this reaction much too often in recent years. Does not bode well for them.

Dan

At least one Sumerian God threatened a zombie apocolypse IRRC:

She was havin a bit of a strop cos that Gilgamesh chap wouldn't give her a portion (he'd seen what happened to those that did) and she went to her dad and asked him to drop an enourmous Star Bull on Gilgamesh and Enkidu to teach him a lesson , and he wasn't keen untill she threatened to let the Dead eat the Living.

So she at least clearly thought that folk at the dawn of civilization wouldn't last long against Zombies. In the event Gilgamesh and Enkidu had beef for tea…

They would do fine esp in medieval times. Armor and Castles.

But they would do fine in modern times with airpower, armor and artillery. Not to mention electric fences. But then you'd have no show.

TomT

Hmmm, wasn't that what the Huns really were?

This is just getting silly now

Didn't Bill et al just post a pic of a model of a Greek Hoplite zombie the other day ?

I'm not sure they would be up to the task. I doubt swords and spears were common house hold items. If I remember correctly, it was against the law to own an offensive weapon in the Roman Empire. I think the same could be said for many ancient societies (who wants the peasants to be revolting?).

Besides, without modern movies to explain things how would they know how to deal with zombies? I wonder, would that hoplite phalanx really be up to the challenge?

Okay if a zombie bites you you get some disease and become one. So if you smash one end it fluids get in your eye, mouth open wound….

There is a short story entitled De Bello Lemures which features a druid who raises zombies in the wake of failed rebellion in the reign of Commodus. It is written in the same vein as Graves' I, Claudius, i.e., as a manuscript that has been discovered and translated and edited.

And armor and shields, along with training in hand-to-hand fighting, do indeed play a significant role.

And armor and shields, along with training in hand-to-hand fighting, do indeed play a significant role.

That always has been my thought as well.

Along with small arms fire of all types, e.g. MGs, GLs, etc., mines, ditches, big pungie sticks, AFVs, etc., etc.

They'd be an endangered lifeform in short order.