Greek Fire, the Most Powerful Weapon of Byzantine Army Essay -- Byzant

"War is the father of all things."1 Volkman begins his book, Science Goes to War, with this quote from Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher. Volkman uses the quote to suggest that many, if not all, scientific advancements owe their birth to the desire for or the fear of war. Fire is undoubtedly a part of this advancement as Bert Hall points out, "Fire is one of the primordial forces of nature, and incendiary weapons have had a place in armies' toolkits for almost as long as civilized states have made war."2 Of all the tools at the disposal of the Byzantine Empire's military, the 'so called' Greek fire was the most important.3 Greek fire was a weapon system that allowed Byzantine ships, as early as the seventh century, to spew fire at its enemies. On the ship's prow was the head of a lion or some other monstrosity, cast in brass or iron. In it's mouth was a bronze siphon that could swivel back and forth.4 The flaming liquid that spewed from this siphon came with the roaring sound and a black cloud of smoke. What makes it worse is that it even burns while in water.5 The fear it instilled in enemies sometimes egged men in full plate armor to leap in the water, knowing they will be dragged down to the bottom simply because drowning was preferable to being burned alive.6 Such an awe-inspiring beast of a weapon was already predisposed to legend and rumor. However, even as cinematic as Greek fire was, its cloud of ambiguity is, frankly, ridiculous. Put as accurately and elegantly as possible, Greek fire was "a misnomer wrapped in a misconception, confused in translation, veiled in secrecy, and embellished with apocrypha."7 At one point, one of the Byzantine emperors wrote in a letter to his son that Greek fire "was revealed and ta... ...timore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1960. p. 19. Parkington, James Riddick Parkington. Origins and Development of Applied Chemistry. New York: Arno Press, 1975. Roland, Alex. Review of A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, by James Riddick Parkington, Technology and Culture, Vol. 41. No. 1 (Jan., 2000). Roland, Alex. â€Å"Secrecy, Technology, and War: Greek Fire and the Defense of Byzantium, 678-1204.† Technology and Culture Vol. 33, No. 4 (1992): 655-679. Russel, Bertrand. History of Western Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin LTD, 1946. p. 60. Stannard, Jerry. Review of A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, by James Riddick Parkington, Philosophy of Science, Vol. 29. No. 4 (Oct., 1962). Volkman, Ernest. Science Goes to War: The Search for the Ultimate Weapon, from Greek Fire to Star Wars. New York:John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.