has asked Κonstantinos Karatolios, author of the new book Greek Fire and Its Contribution to Byzantine Might to pen this piece on some of the fascinating facts about this ancient weapon of mass destruction. Not surprisingly, Greek fire struck fear into the hearts of the empire’s foes. One thing we are certain of however is that once ignited, the mysterious solution could not be extinguished with water and was able to engulf a ship and its crew in minutes. While the ingredients of this volatile and deadly mixture have been lost to history (the exact recipe was such a closely guarded secret that it disappeared with the fall of Constantinople), it was likely some sort of oil or sulfur-based fluid, possibly even mixed with pine resin. Not even water could douse the flames.Īs far back as the 7 th Century, fighting ships of the Byzantine Empire were dousing enemy vessels with a flaming liquid known by western historians as “Greek fire”. HOT RECEPTION - The Byzantine Empire’s most terrifying weapon had to be Greek fire - a flammable oily mixture that was projected onto enemy ships and soldiers.
0 kommentar(er)
