Greek fire
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Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely-guarded state secret and has been lost to history
"The Roman fleet burns the opposite fleet down" – An Eastern Roman / Byzantine warship 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").
Use of a cheirosiphōn ("hand-siphōn"), a portable flamethrower, used from a flying bridge against a castle. Illumination from the Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium.
Proposed reconstruction of the Greek fire mechanism by Haldon and Byrne
Detail of a cheirosiphōn
Byzantine Empire
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The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the fall of
Greek fire
…Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely-guarded state secret and has been lost to history. Historians…
Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He founded the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and made it the capital of the Empire, which it remained for over a millennium.
The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, very important during the 717–718 siege
Gold solidus of Leo III (left) and his son and heir, Constantine V (right)
The seizure of Edessa (1031) by the Byzantines under George Maniakes and the counterattack by the Seljuk Turks