RomanArmyTalk

Question in topic.

But they'd be difficult to fit into phalanx...

There were no left-handed hoplites. From the time they started to train they learned to fight right-handed. I'm left-handed but was taught to fight right-handed. Now I feel uncomfortable fighting left-handed and wish I had learned to fight both ways.

My analogy is it is like learning the clarinet or the saxophone - the fingerings are the fingerings. You learn the whole instrument - to get this you do that. As Dan said - you trained to fit in. The innate feeling of "the wrong hand" is overcome (but I suspect the lefty/righty feeling never truly fades away). Doesn't matter - as an ephebe you learn "the phalanx way".

It has completely faded away for me. When I started to train I was a southpaw. Now it feels utterly unnatural to fight like that. I had broken ribs for a few months so had a strong incentive to fight left-handed but still couldn't do it. I do everything else left-handed and left-footed, including fencing. Cricket is the exception; my father taught me to bat right-handed so that is how I've always done it. I bowl, throw, and catch left-handed. Conditioning can cause the brain can adapt to anything.

Thanks for answers!

I knew I would get answers here.

On a somewhat related note, the vast majority of pro hockey players from Canada and Russia shoot left-handed but are otherwise right-handed, because that's how they're taught to play as kids. But that isn't a common thing in the United States, so a much higher percentage of American players are right-handed shots. It's an important factor to consider in assembling a roster.