Greek Fire

[edyzmedieval]

Here's a challenging question...

What was the Greek Fire composed of??? And what made it to light up when it entered in contact with oxygen???

[The Wizard]

As far as I know, Greek Fire remains one of the mysteries of medieval technology, since, while being similar, naphta was not the same.

Meanwhile, the Venetians, who had apparently learnt to use Greek fire as well by the late 11th century, have not succeeded in passing the recipe down either.



~Wiz

[King Henry V]

Greek fire is similar to modern day napalm, but nobody actually knows the ingredients, since only a few people in the Eastern Roman navy knew how it was made.

[thelzdking]

Also, as far as I know, it was so volatile that it ignited spontaneously. Impressive weapon, especially for its period.

[Kagemusha]

I read somewhere that it continued burning underwater.Maybe it was Fosfor(spelling?)

[Krusader]

Taken from Wikipedia, the big tome of knowledge that must not be trusted at once

The process of manufacturing the fluid was a very carefully guarded military secret — so secret, in fact, that today we still do not know how it was made. Various sources speculate that its constituents may have included sulfur, quicklime, and liquid petroleum. It is not clear if the mixture was ignited by a flame as the mixture emerged from the syringe, or that it ignited spontaneously when it came into contact with water. If the latter is the case, it is possible that the ingredient responsible was calcium phosphide, made by heating lime, bones and charcoal. On contact with water, calcium phosphide releases phosphine, which ignites spontaneously.

[Watchman]

By what I've read of it it apparently came in several different varieties. Given that it originated in Middle East (it was reputedly invented by a Syrian architect around the 9th century or thereabouts) it would make sense for some sort of fossilic fuel to serve as a base, as the stuff used to seep into the surface on its own (and was likewise, in duly processed forms, used in incendiary weapons).

Although it apparently wasn't quite so secret as the story has it, given that it saw fairly soon use among Turks, Arabs and all across the Silk Road - both the Chinese and the Vietnamese eventually learned of a form. Hey, if a pair of missionaries could smuggle living silkworms from China to Byzantium (or that's how the story goes anyway; all I know is that they started cultivating the little critters in both the Byzantine Empire and Italy) I don't quite see how the Byzantines, especially given the desertion and territory loss rates they at times suffered, could keep the neat trick under wraps...

Given that anything that spontaneously combusts when exposed to air makes an unbelievable pain in the ass to store, transport or use (sort of like how nitroglycerine by itself has far less practical use than its far less volatile derivative TNT), chances are it didn't and was ignited by an external source of fire. Firebombs, whether thrown by hand, sling or trebuchet, could naturally use the tried-and-true "molotov cocktail" approach involving burning rags, ropes or slowmatch, while fire-hoses could presumably be constructed with a small "pilot light" like that of more modern flamethrowers.