Greek Fire – The Secret Weapon of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine war ship using their secret weapon – Greek fire – against a ship belonging to the rebel Thomas the Slav, AD 821. (12th century illustration from the Madrid Skylitzes)
Invented by the Byzantines, Greek Fire, was the secret weapon of mass destruction used by the Byzantine Empire, from the 7th to 14th centuries.
This Medieval flamethrower was a mysterious incendiary weapon, a device designed to start fires and cause unimaginable burn injuries resulting from the chemical reaction of a flammable substance upon contact with a target.
Greek Fire – Medieval Greek Flamethrower
Examples of incendiary substances include napalm, thermite and white phosphorus.
Greek Fire was a highly effective naval weapon that could burn on both land and water, its ability to burn on water and stick to surfaces made it a fearful weapon.
The ingredients used to create this liquid Greek Fire was a closely guarded secret and we still don’t know to this day what exactly went into it.
Greek Fire, another Greek first, was credited to Kallinikos of Heliopolis, (today’s Baalbek, Lebanon) a Jewish architect from Heliopolis, in Syria, who is said to have developed it in c. 672.
Perfect Timing
Clash between Byzantines and Arabs at the Battle of Lalakaon (863) and defeat of Amer, the emir of Malatya. From the Chronicle of John Skylitzes
Kallinikos’ hot invention came just at the right time as the Byzantines, who were feeling rather disheartened after the seemingly never-ending wars with Sassanid Persia, were now feeling unable to withstand any more Muslim conquests.
Within only a few years, Syria, Palestine and Egypt had fallen to the Arabs, who in c. 672 then set out to take on the Byzantines.
Topographical map of Constantinople during the Byzantine period. By Cplakidas
However, little did the Muslim fleets know what the Byzantines now had up their sleeve; their secret weapon, Greek Fire, which they used, with spectacular effects, against the Muslim ships during the first and second Arab sieges of the city.
The Secret Ingredients
Sample of Potassium Nitrate
The recipe for Greek fire was such a closely-guarded secret that within only fifty years of its invention no one had any idea at all of what it was made of.
Early Greek chemists and historians seem to agree the secret liquid fire recipe consisted of saltpeter, sulfur, or quicklime and possibly crude oil, pine resin, and sulfur, which, so is said, resulted in a green-tinged flame.
Green-Tinged Greek Fire
However, modern day scholars think it must have been based on petroleum mixed with resins, similar in composition to modern napalm.
Some later Greek warriors did try to reproduce Greek Fire by mixing together pitch, sulfur, granulated frankincense and pine sawdust, which they then packed into cloth sacks and set alight.
They would then fire the sacks, with the help of catapults, over the walls of fortresses, causing flames to spread in all directions, which to the horror of those inside the castle walls, only seemed to become worse when water was poured on them.
Apparently it burned on water and was even ignited by water!
The only way to put out the fire was to throw sand, strong vinegar, or old urine onto the flames, which probably caused some sort of chemical reaction.
Key Characteristics of Greek Fire
Ship using Greek fire
The main advantage of Greek Fire was its ability to burn on water.
Another advantage was its stickiness, allowing it to stick to the sides of wooden ships, and the fires it produced were nearly impossible to put out.
Then there was the psychological impact, the deafening roar of the fire was terrifying, it created panic and confusion among enemy forces.
The horrors of watching your comrades burn to death must have been a terrible sight to behold.
It was difficult to fight and some, when confronted with Greek fire, had the urge to run away rather than stay and fight.
How Greek Fire Was Used
Greek Fire launcher, mounted below the forecastle, in operation against Arab fleet during Second Siege of Constantinople, 717.
The main way Greek Fire was used was by ejecting the secret liquid from a cheirosiphōn (siphon), mounted on bronze tubes, which caused a jet of liquid to stick to enemy ships and igniting them and burning on the surrounding water.
Greek Fire – Medieval Greece’s flamethrower
Proposed reconstruction of the Greek fire mechanism by Haldon and Byrne. From John H. Haldon, Maurice Byrne, A possible solution of the Greek Fire. In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 70 (1977)
Greek Fire was extremely difficult to put out without sand or vinegar.
The ships these siphons were mounted on were specially modified large Byzantine battleships, with furnaces aboard, called dromons, manned by a crew of from a hundred to hundred and fifty sailors.
The crew of a Byzantine dromon, a type of light galley, spraying an enemy ship with Greek fire.
While it was first used at sea, as a defense weapon against invading ships, variations soon appeared, such as wall mounted flamethrowers aimed at foot soldiers, large cloths soaked in the secret recipe which were then that were then tossed over castle or city walls.
Ceramic grenades that were filled with Greek fire, surrounded by caltrops, 10th–12th century – Photo by Badseed – National Historical Museum – Athens
The liquid was also poured into small, grenade-like, clay vessels and thrown at the enemy; the first hand grenade!
The Glory Lives On
A still from the 2002 TV series Machines Time Forgot, showing the practical reconstruction of the Greek fire apparatus.
Greek Fire was a highly effective and feared weapon on the battlefield and was of immense help when it came to the Byzantine Empire defending its territories.
Today, Greek Fire stands as confirmation to the ingenuity and military skill of the Byzantine Empire.
Its secrets may have been lost, its impact, however, on warfare and historical significance, still manages to amaze.
