On Thursday, May 17, 100 students at North Cross School gathered together to recreate the epic Battle of Cannae as part of their annual reenactment, coordinated by fifth grade history and language arts teacher Victor Lamas.

Each year, the fifth graders are the stars of the show, but this year they had some help from their fellow middle school students, many of whom are graduates of Lamas’ class. In addition to the middle schoolers, first graders (coordinated by Eileen Strulson and Betsy Cook) helped out the Carthaginian effort in the battle by lobbing water balloons at the Romans.

Tammy Shank, Director of Development at North Cross, shares the following press release:

On May 17th, at 11:40 am, on the football field at North Cross School,  Hannibal of Carthage annihilated the greatest Roman army ever assembled in history’s greatest battle, the Battle of Cannae.

For many years, the NCS fifth graders, as part of their social studies curriculum, have reenacted famous battles from ancient history. This year they reenacted a battle from the Second Punic War.

Every year there is a new twist. Last year’s reenactment told the story of the Trojan War and included a real wooden Trojan Horse. This year the new wrinkle was the sheer number of the participants. The Carthaginian army was played by the students of the Middle School, most of them veterans of Mr. Lamas’ reenactments.

“It [was] like an alumni reunion of sorts,” says Victor Lamas, the students’ fifth grade history and language arts teacher and creator of the reenactment. “This year, everybody [was] involved. The parents [made] authentic-looking shields, spears and swords out of wood. The art teacher [helped] us make helmets. The students themselves have studied the ancient Romans and the campaigns of Hannibal, so they are very familiar with the story.”