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Greek fire

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Depiction of Greek fire in the late 11th century Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.
Depiction of Greek fire in the late 11th century Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.
Greek Fire
Also called: Byzantine fire, Roman fire[1], wildfire, sea fire, liquid fire
In Byzantine Greek: ὑγρόν πῦρ (hygròn pyr, "liquid fire"), πῦρ θαλάσσιον (pyr thalàssion, "sea fire")

Greek fire was a burning-liquid weapon used by the Byzantine Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and Mongols. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water. It was largely responsible for many Byzantine military victories, and partly the reason for the Byzantine Empire surviving as long as it did. The formula was a secret and remains a mystery to this day. As one contemporary victim of Greek fire advised his comrades, "Every time they hurl the fire at us, we go down on our elbows and knees, and beseech Our Lord to save us from this danger."[2]

Origin

Incendiary and flaming weapons had been used in warfare for centuries prior to the invention of Greek fire, including a number of petroleum and bitumen-based mixtures; however, Greek fire was difficult to extinguish and could burn on water, making it a devastating invention.[3] The first use of an incendiary chemical substance at sea by the Byzantines dates to the suppression of a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I in 513A.D. However, Theophanes records that Greek fire was invented c. 670 in Constantinople by Kallinikos (Callinicus), an architect from Heliopolis in the former Byzantine Iudaea Province.[4] Historian James Partington thinks it likely that "Greek fire was really invented by the chemists in Constantinople who had inherited the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school".[5] Many accounts note that the fires it caused could not be put out by pouring water on the flames—on the contrary, the water served to intensify or spread them, suggesting that "Greek fire" may have been a 'thermite-like' reaction, possibly involving a quicklime or similar compound. Others have posited a flammable liquid that floated on water, possibly a form of naphtha or another low-density liquid hydrocarbon, as petroleum was known to Eastern chemists long before its use became widespread in the 1800s.

Use

In its earliest uses it was applied onto enemy forces by firing a burning cloth-wrapped ball, perhaps containing a flask, using a form of light catapult, most probably a sea-borne variant of the Roman light catapult or onager. These were capable of hurling light loads (around 6 kg (13 lb) to 9 kg (20 lb) a distance of 350 m (383 yd) – 450 m (492 yd). Later technological improvements in machining technology enabled the devising of a pump mechanism discharging a stream of burning fluid (flame thrower) at close ranges, devastating wooden ships in naval warfare and also very effective on land as a counter-force suppression weapon used on besieging forces. There are many accounts of the Byzantine Empire driving off attacks on the walls using this devastatingly frightful secret formula.

Further information: Byzantine navy

Greek fire was largely responsible for many Byzantine military victories, and partly the reason the Eastern Roman Empire survived as long as it did. It was particularly helpful near the end of the empire's life when there were not enough inhabitants to effectively defend its territories. It was first used to repel the Muslim Arabs at the first Siege of Constantinople (674), the Battle of Syllaeum (677), and the second Siege of Constantinople (718). The Byzantines also used this powerful weapon against the Rus in the Rus'-Byzantine War of 941 and against the Venetians during the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). It quickly became one of the most fearsome weapons of the medieval world. The sight of any sort of siphon, whether it was used for Greek fire or not, was often enough to demoralize an enemy. However, Greek fire was very hard to control, and it would often accidentally set Byzantine ships ablaze. The early 20th century historian C.W.C. Oman paraphrases an account by the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene (1083–1153)—daughter of Alexios I Komnenos—about a sea battle between the Pisans and Byzantines near Rhodes in the year 1103:

[Alexios] had fixed to the bows of each of his galleys a tube ending in the head of a lion or other beast wrought in brass or iron, 'so that the animals might seem to vomit flames'. The fleet came up with the Pisans between Rhodes and Patara, but as its vessels were pursuing them with too great zeal it could not attack as a single body. The first to reach the enemy was the Byzantine admiral Landulph, who shot off his fire too hastily, missed his mark and accomplished nothing. But Count Eleemon, who was the next to close, had better fortune; he rammed the stern of a Pisan vessel, so that the bows of his ship got stuck in its steering-oar tackle. Then, shooting forth the fire, he set it ablaze, after which he pushed off and successfully discharged his tube into three other vessels, all of which were soon in flames. The Pisans then fled in disorder, 'having had no previous knowledge of the device, and wondering that fire, which usually burns upwards, could be directed downwards or to either hand, at the will of the engineer who discharged it'. That the Greek fire was a liquid, and not merely an inflammable substance attached to ordinary missiles, after the manner of fire-arrows, is quite clear from the fact that Leo [VI the Wise] proposes to cast it on the enemy in fragile earthen vessels which may break and allow the material to run about—as also from the name pyr enygron(πύρ ένυγρον) or 'liquid fire' which Anna uses for it.[6]

The effectiveness of Greek fire was indisputable; however, it was mainly effective under certain circumstances. For instance, it was less effective in the open sea than in narrow sea passages. Greek fire should not be considered an invention that solved all the maritime problems of the Byzantine Empire. Naval war continued to be based on the traditional art of maritime strategy, to which Greek fire added an effective weapon for the Byzantines.

Manufacture

Hand grenades operating with Greek fire. (10th-12th c. National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece.)

The ingredients, process of manufacture, and usage were a very carefully guarded military secret—so secretive that it remains a source of speculation to this day. The only information we have is indirect, or through secondary sources like Anna Comnena:

“This fire is made by the following arts. From the pines and the certain such evergreen trees inflammable resin is collected. This is rubbed with sulfur and put into tubes of reed, and is blowing by men using it with violent and continuous breath. Then in this manner it meets the fire on the tip and catches light and falls like a fiery whirlwind on the faces of the enemies."

Speculations as to its composition include:

It is not clear if the operator ignited the mixture with a flame as it emerged from the syringe, or if it ignited spontaneously on contact with water or air. If the latter is the case, it is possible that the active ingredient was calcium phosphide, made by heating lime, bones, and charcoal. On contact with water, calcium phosphide releases phosphine, which ignites spontaneously. The reaction of quicklime with water also creates enough heat to ignite hydrocarbons, especially if an oxidizer such as saltpeter is present. However, Greek fire was also used on land.

These ingredients were apparently heated in a cauldron, and then pumped out through a siphon or large syringe (handled by a specialist known as siphōnarios or siphōnatōr) mounted on the bow of the ship. Such a ship was herself called a siphōnophoros dromōn. Larger vessels could also have two more siphons, one on each side. Greek fire could also be used in hand grenades, made of earthenware vessels. If a pyrophoric reaction was involved, perhaps these grenades contained chambers for the fluids, which mixed and ignited when the vessel broke on impact with the target.

Although the above sounds nice, it may apparently not be entirely correct. www.hypatia-lovers.com/footnotes/Section10.pdf states:

"Fortunately for us, a formula for Greek Fire has survived through a passagefrom the Eighth Century* book of Marcus Graecus, Liber Ignium ad Comburendos Hostes — a passage which has come down to us through a quotation by the Ninth Century Arabian physician, Mesue:“Greek Fire is made as follows: take sulfur, tartar, sarcocolla, pitch, melted saltpeter, petroleum oil, and oil of gum, boil all these together, impregnate tow [i.e., the coarse or broken part of flax orhemp, prepared for spinning] with the mixture, and the material is ready to be set on fire. This fire cannot be extinguished by urine, or by vinegar, or by sand ... Flying fire may be obtained in the following manner: take one part of colophony [rosin], the same of sulfur, and two parts of saltpeter. Dissolve the pulverized mixture in linseed oil, or better in oil oflamium. Finally, the mixture is placed in a reed or a piece of wood which has been hollowed out.When it is set on fire, it will fly in whatever direction one wishes, there to set everything on fire.” Math & Science Footnotes for Khan Amore’s Hypatia Section 10 2The second paragraph of this passage is particularly intriguing, for the “flying fire” referred to is subject to various interpretations. This term has been taken by some to mean a rocket, although it seems more likely to refer to a Roman candle or a liquid-fuelversion of a pyrotechnical fountain, for, as anyone who has worked with homemaderockets will tell you, unstabilized rockets do not reliably “fly in whatever direction one wishes,” while a pyrotechnical fountain or Roman candle can more reliably be directed. The problem of stabilization — whether by stick or by fins — makes the rocket seem to be the less simple interpretation of the passage. One would at very least expect to find some mention of how to solve the problem of stabilization in any instructions on how tomake a war rocket. Perhaps the writer meant that it is the fire itself that does the flying, and not the device from which it issues. Another mixture mentioned in the Liber Igniumof Marcus Graecus is of even greater interest: “Take one pound of sulfur, two pounds of grapevine or willow charcoal, and six pounds of saltpeter.Grind these three substances in a marble mortar in such a manner as to reduce them to a most subtle powder. After that, the powder in desired quantity is put into an envelope for flying or for makingthunder. Note that the envelope for flying ought to be thin and long and well-filled with the above-described powder tightly packed, while the envelope for making thunder ought to be short and thick, only half-filled with powder, and tightly tied up at both ends with an iron wire. Note that a smallhole ought to be made in each envelope for the introduction of the match. The match ought to bethin at both ends, thick in the middle, and filled with the above-described powder. The envelopeintended to fly in the air has as many thicknesses [ply] as one pleases; that for making thunder, however, has a great many.” Here we have the first historical description of how to make not only a black powder, but rockets and firecrackers as well! Note that this formulation differs from that of GreekFire: whether it be pumped by hand or driven through nozzles by the force of oxidized combustion, Greek Fire was an incendiary liquid which could be accurately directed at enemies, while this last-mentioned composition was a dry black powder which could be used to make pyrotechnical self-propelling devices (i.e., rockets) and explosives (morespecifically, firecrackers). Even today, willow charcoal is considered by pyrotechnists tobe the best form of carbon to use in making gunpowder! Because Greek Fire was the first incendiary substance to make use of an oxidizer (saltpeter), and because further experimentation along these lines unquestionably led to the development of black powder, it may be said that Greek Fire was the direct ancestor of black powder, and in turn, of all pyrotechnical and explosive compositions. Although the Chinese are generally credited with its invention, we see in the work of Marcus Graecus that a formof black powder which could be used in rockets and firecrackers was already known to the Eighth Century Byzantine Greeks."

So there you go, an actual old account of Greek Fire as well as gunpowder, from the eighth century.

Testimony

This possibly anachronistic lithograph from an 1869 Harper's Magazine depicts a 13th century engine for throwing Greek fire in a barrel.

The Memoirs of Jean de Joinville, a thirteenth century French nobleman, include these observations of Greek fire during the Seventh Crusade:[1]

It happened one night, whilst we were keeping night-watch over the tortoise-towers, that they brought up against us an engine called a perronel, (which they had not done before) and filled the sling of the engine with Greek fire. When that good knight, Lord Walter of Cureil, who was with me, saw this, he spoke to us as follows: "Sirs, we are in the greatest peril that we have ever yet been in. For, if they set fire to our turrets and shelters, we are lost and burnt; and if, again, we desert our defences which have been entrusted to us, we are disgraced; so none can deliver us from this peril save God alone. My opinion and advice therefore is: that every time they hurl the fire at us, we go down on our elbows and knees, and beseech Our Lord to save us from this danger."

So soon as they flung the first shot, we went down on our elbows and knees, as he had instructed us; and their first shot passed between the two turrets, and lodged just in front of us, where they had been raising the dam. Our firemen were all ready to put out the fire; and the Saracens, not being able to aim straight at them, on account of the two pent-house wings which the King had made, shot straight up into the clouds, so that the fire-darts fell right on top of them.

This was the fashion of the Greek fire: it came on as broad in front as a vinegar cask, and the tail of fire that trailed behind it was as big as a great spear; and it made such a noise as it came, that it sounded like the thunder of heaven. It looked like a dragon flying through the air. Such a bright light did it cast, that one could see all over the camp as though it were day, by reason of the great mass of fire, and the brilliance of the light that it shed.

Thrice that night they hurled the Greek fire at us, and four times shot it from the tourniquet cross-bow.

The Dream Pool Essays observes that "There are Buddhist books which speak of 'dragon fire' which burns more fiercely when it meets with water instead of being extinguished by water like 'human' fire. Most people can only judge of things by the experiences of ordinary life, but phenomena outside the scope of this are really quite numerous. How insecure it is to investigate natural principles using only the light of common knowledge, and subjective ideas."[10]

Greek fire in China

A Chinese flamethrower from the Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044 AD, Song Dynasty.

The earliest reference to Greek fire in China was made in AD 917, written by the author Wu Renchen in his Shi Guo Chun Qiu.[11] The Chinese Emperor of Wu (with his capital at Hangzhou at the time) had presented the Khitan monarch Abaoji with a gift of 'fire oil', yet the Khitan Queen Shu Li advised against its use, saying it was better to attack enemies with cavalry than it was to attack with seemingly useless oil.[12] In AD 919, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the "fierce fire oil" that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu in his Wu Yue Bei Shi, hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire (see also Pen Huo Qi).[13] Lin Yu mentioned also that the 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from one of China's maritime contacts in the 'southern seas', Arabia (Dashiguo).[14] In the Battle of Langshan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River) in 932, the naval fleet of the Wenmu King of Wuyue defeated the Wu state of Huainan because Wenmu had used 'fire oil' ('huo you') from a siphoned hose to burn his fleet; this signified the first Chinese use of gunpowder in warfare since it applied a slow-burning fuse.[15] The Chinese applied the use of double-piston bellows (this double-set used since the Han Dynasty for smelting cast iron) to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and downstroke). This fluid was lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame, as referred to and illustrated in the Wujing Zongyao manuscript of AD 1044.[14] In the suppression of the Southern Tang state by AD 976, early Song Dynasty naval forces confronted them on the Yangtze River in AD 975. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction.[16] The Song Dynasty continued use of the flamethrower.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Incendiary Weapons - History, GlobalSecurity.org, retrieved 7 Jan. 2008
  2. ^ The History of Greek Fire. Accessed on July 11, 2007.
  3. ^ Nicolle (1996), p 45
  4. ^ The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford University Press, 1997.
  5. ^ Partington 1999:12-13
  6. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 78–79.
  7. ^ "JSTOR: Notes on Cannon". JSTOR: Notes on Cannon-Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.
  8. ^ "Greek Fire". 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
  9. ^ "Roman Seapower". Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
  10. ^ = Needham, Volume 3, 482.
  11. ^ Needham, Volume 5, p80.
  12. ^ Partington 240.
  13. ^ Needham, Volume 5, p81.
  14. ^ a b Needham, Volume 5, p82.
  15. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–83.
  16. ^ Needham, Volume 5, p89.

References

  • Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
  • Nicolle, David (1996); Medieval Warfare Source Book: Christian Europe and its Neighbours, Brockhampton Press, ISBN 1860198619
  • James Riddick Partington (1960, reprinted 1999). A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5954-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  • Spears, W.H., Jr. (1969). Greek Fire: The Fabulous Secret Weapon That Saved Europe. ISBN 0-9600106-3-7

See also:

  • Watts, John M.(1993) “Greek Fire”, Editorial, Fire Technology, Volume 29, Number 3 / DOI10.1007/BF01152106
  • Corp, Ernest L. (1994) Letter to the Editor, Fire Technology, Volume 30, Number 3 / DOI10.1007/BF01038076
  • Roland, Alex (1992) Secrecy, Technology, and War: Greek Fire and the Defense of Byzantium, Technology and Culture 33(4),

678-1204.

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