Recurring dream of the past

So this is my first time putting this dream to any form of documentation, and I'm not looking for an explanation or rationalization, just felt that maybe I should post it somewhere to see if anyone else has had such a dream.

I've now had this dream several times, only it seems that each time I see more and more of the dream.
It starts with me being part of an ancient army, I would assume around the bronze-age.
The language spoken is unfamiliar, yet somehow (as in all dreams) I can understand what's going on.
Across a great plain of what seems to be clay or hardened dirt lies a camp of what I can assume is our enemy.
My "side" is armed with archers, slingers, spear-men, sword-men with shields, what appears to be light cavalry, and extremely primitve catapults.
There is an extreme sense of tension and urgency on "our" side as the enemy camp has battle-elephants.
We are all quickly digging large ditches in order to counter the elephant threat. Being what appears to be a regular foot soldier I know nothing of our tactics, just that elephants cannot jump so I was ordered to ensure the ditch was of a certain length.
The dream skips forward to the imminent attack, this time I'm in full battle gear. A helmet, breast plate, greaves and a thick nylon-like tape wrapping my hands and forearms. In my right arm was a heavy round shield, and my left arm a wooden spear with what appeared to be a bronze tip. At my waist attached to a thick leather-like belt was a short-sword (about a foot & a half long) more like an over-grown dagger than a sword.
Anyhow, the battle commences with intense detail, for example, what I can only assume is a squad leader of types ordering our formation and warning us of incoming arrows. Messengers on horse-back go back and forth to different parts of the battlefield relaying commands.
The surprising thing was that there really wasn't much hand-to-hand killing. Both sides actually allowed a wounded soldier to back off and let a replacement step in. It seemed very honourable!
Anyhow, at one point the elephant attack came but the first couple of them fell into the ditch and had a difficult time getting up. Their riders fled and our side put the wounded beasts out of their misery by plunging our spears between their ribs.

This is as far as my dream has gotten, me, in the ditch, killing wounded elephants...

No point to this post really other than to share the strangeness and vivid detail of it all!

NOTE: I do not have any fear or hate of elephants, infact I think they are majestic intelligent creatures which are to be respected.

I almost forgot to mention our honourable adversaries reminded me of African warriors, no armour, barefoot, body paint and feathers. Long wicker-like shields and spears and elaborate head-gear of animal skulls and bright coloured material

I notice you have some kind of ancient warrior as your avatar, so my question is do you have an interest in this subject already (ancient warfare)? Or is this a totally unfamiliar subject and you think you're revisiting a real historical event in your dreams?

Originally posted by Ginga
I notice you have some kind of ancient warrior as your avatar, so my question is do you have an interest in this subject already (ancient warfare)? Or is this a totally unfamiliar subject and you think you're revisiting a real historical event in your dreams?

Hi Ginga, the avatar is that of Konstantine XI the last Byzantine emperor (circa 1453).
I do have an interest in history, so that's most likely the basis of my dream. I have no idea if I'm dreaming of something I may have read or not, but I don't recall ever reading of an army using ditches to negate an elephant attack. Perhaps another history buff can help me here?

The most interesting part for me is the consistency of this dream, I have it every 4 or 5 months or so. The events are exactly the same every time, except every time I have it, I seem to experience a little further into the "story" if you will.
I know nothing about dream interpretation, so I don't know if my sub-conscious is trying to tell me something.

On a sidenote, I'm not a believer of reincarnation, so I don't put much weight behind this being a past life, but that is only my personal opinion.