When was flamed weaponry invented?

Question

I'm asking because in Night at the Museum, Octavius (98 BC) and his army shoot Ben Stiller with flaming arrows and flaming catapults. I've always thought that flaming weaponry was invented by the Native Americans in the 1500s or so.

Answer 1

No ancient Greece had flaming weaponry.

Theophanes records that Greek fire was invented c. 670 in Constantinople by Kallikinos (Callicinus), an architect from Heliopolis in the Byzantine Iudaea Province.[2] 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".[3] 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.

Answer 2

Probably the first use of fire as a weapon was a cave man with a burning branch. Recorded use of fire weapons pretty much goes as far bas as recorded history. As soon as you have arrows, the next step is to light them up. The bigger question is really would Octavius have had a catapult? Or at least would he have had one as depicted in the movie.

Another very early flame weapon was Greek Fire. It was some kind of chemical mixture that could be sprayed on an enemy ship and would burn ferociously, even in water. But the recipe has long since been lost.

Answer 3

Flaming weapons have been around since the first cave man hit another one with a burning stick from the fire. Nobody 'invented" it, it just happened.

Several Cultures have "PERFECTED IT" but as to invention. . .

Answer 4

WHO REally know 1500 hell no they were babies to to fire!
chinese knew about fireworks gunpowder atleast 2500 years you gotta go way back

Answer 5

Fire was not even discovered until 1874. Stay in school.

Answer 6

Ever since man has had projectiles and fire he has combined the two - - - evidence is availible from ancient times of all sorts of 'cool' ways to set things abalze. In the Holy Land there are sulphur deposits close to the surface, a tar like substace ideal for 'wadding' around head of an arrow and letting lose flame.

A single word says it all; 'Greek Fire.' Various recipees but the same effect - - - a mixture of sulphure and pitch flung against the sails of a boat made a most effective weapon...

Here is link and blurbage...
http://www.greece.org/Romiosini/greek_fire.html
"""Greek Fire was the secret weapon of the Eastern Roman Emperors. It is said to have been invented by a Syrian Engineer, one Callinicus, a refugee from Maalbek, in the seventh century (673 AD). The "liquid fire" was hurled on to the ships of their enemies from siphons and burst into flames on contact. As it was reputed to be inextinguishable and burned even on water, it caused panic and dread. Its introducation into warfare of its time was comparable in its demoralizing influence to the introducation of nuclear weapons in our time. Both Arab and Greek sources agree that it surpassed all incendiary weapons in destruction. The secret behind the Greek fire was handed down from one emperor to the next for centuries. Rumors about its composition include such chemicals as liquid petroleum, naphtha, burning pitch, sulphur, resin, quicklimeand bitumen, along with some other "secret ingredient". The exact composition, however, remains unknown. For a thorough investigation of the weapon one can refer to Professor J.R. Partington's book, "A history of the Greek Fire and Gunpowder", Heffer, 1960. This volume quotes the ancient authorities extensively, with an excellent commentary. It also examines ancient and modern theories on the composition of the chemicals used in the Greek Fire. This is considered the most up to date source on the subject. ""

http://stronghold.heavengames.com/sc/history/greekfire
"""The History of Greek Fire
by littlegloomy
In a world where new warfare technology is adopted so quickly by so many nations, it’s hard to imagine that the method of creating a weapon as devastating as Greek Fire would be lost to the passage of time. But the recipe for this weapon was so closely guarded that within only 50 years of its invention, the knowledge was lost even to the original owners. While incendiary weapons had been in use for centuries (petroleum and sulfur had both been in use since the early days of the Christians) Greek fire was much, much more potent. Very similar to our modern napalm, it would adhere to surfaces, ignite upon contact, and water alone would not extinguish its flames.

The term “Greek Fire” was not attributed to the concoction until the time of the European Crusades. Some of the original names it was known by include “liquid fire”, “marine fire”, “artificial fire” and “Roman fire”. The latter was most probably due to the fact that the Muslims (against whom the weapon was most commonly used) believed the Byzantines to be Roman rather than Greek.

Greek Fire is believed to have been created in the seventh century (673 AD) by a Syrian engineer named Kallinikos (or Callinicus). The weapon was first used by the Byzantine Navy, and the most common method of deployment was to emit the formula through a large bronze tube onto enemy ships. Usually the mixture would be stored in heated, pressurized barrels and projected through the tube by some sort of pump while the operators were sheltered behind large iron shields.

The Byzantines used Greek Fire rarely, presumably out of fear that the secret mixture might fall into enemy hands. This was probably justifiable. The widespread usage of Greek Fire would be a far greater loss to the Byzantines then the loss of a single battle.

There are however two known incidents of the Byzantines using this weapon. In 678 they utterly destroyed a Muslim fleet (it is believed over 30,000 men were lost) and also in 717-718, when Caliph Suleiman attacked Constantinople. Most of the Muslim fleet was once again destroyed by Greek Fire, and the Caliph was ultimately forced to flee. As there is virtually no documentation of its usage after this time by the Byzantines, it is generally believed (partially due to the poor performance of the Byzantine fleets after this date) that it was during this era that the secrets of creating Greek Fire were lost.

While there has been much speculation involved in preparation of Greek Fire, no one to date has been able to successfully recreate this concoction. The closest would be the Arabian armies, who eventually created their own version (opinions differ as to exactly when this took place, presumably sometime between the mid-seventh century and the early tenth), but the formula was inexact and, compared to the original Byzantine substance, was relatively weak. This did not stop it from being one of the most devastating weapons of the era. The Arabs used the Greek Fire in very effective ways; much like the Byzantines, they used brass tubes aboard ships and upon castle walls. They also filled small glass jars with the substance, allowing them to hurl it by hand at their opponents. Arrows and spears would be used to carry the mixture further onto the battlefield and gigantic war engines could be used to hurl large amounts of the substance over a castle wall.

The Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, a thirteenth century French nobleman, include these observations of Greek Fire during the seventh Crusade:


“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 therefor 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.”




Beyond the physical dangers of Greek Fire, this excerpt gives us an idea of its potency as a psychological weapon. The horrors of watching your comrades burn to death must have been a shattering blow to many a soldier. Many men were known to simply flee their posts rather than face the flames.
However, as devastating as Greek Fire might have been, there were some methods of combating it; as water alone was largely ineffective, common defenses included sand, vinegar and urine. """


Peace------------------------------