X-Nico

9 unusual facts about Greek fire


Adrienne Mayor

She presents ancient Greek, Roman, Chinese, African, and Indian historical accounts of the practice of biochemical warfare, using animal, bacterial, poison, and chemical weaponry, including the titular Greek fire.

Bennett H. Young

Young ordered his troops to burn the town down, but the four-ounce bottles of Greek fire they had brought failed to work, and only one shed was destroyed.

Björn Ironside

In the desperate battle that followed, Björn lost 40 ships, largely to Greek fire launched from Saracen catapults.

Fire pot

Containers made at first from clay, later from cast iron, known as 'carcasses', were launched by a siege engine, filled with pitch, Greek fire or other incendiary mixtures.

Igor of Kiev

He twice besieged Constantinople, in 941 and 944, and in spite of part of his fleet being destroyed by Greek fire, concluded with the Emperor a favourable treaty whose text is preserved in the chronicle.

Khokarsa

The Khokarsans had a written syllabary, understood the principles of algebra, employed catapults and Greek fire, had an advanced navy of unireme, bireme, and trireme galleys, implemented a solar calendar, and established a samurai-like class of swordsmen called the numatenu who wielded iron broadswords.

Son of Sinbad

Anxious to save Kristina, Sinbad reveals to the Khalif that Simon possesses the formula for an explosive called "Greek fire" and will share it with the Khalif in exchange for Simon's, Kristina's, Omar's and his freedom.

The Icemark Chronicles

The Hellenic (see Greeks) fleet uses a type of incendiary that "burns even on water", called Hellenic Fire; this could be none other than the famous (or infamous) Greek fire.

Tyrion Lannister

While becoming strongly at odds with his sister and the king, he masterminds the defence of King's Landing against Stannis Baratheon's naval attack with a massive chain boom and ships filled with the Greek fire-like wildfire.



see also

2003 in archaeology

Adrienne Mayor - Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world.