"Greek Fire": The Elusive Medieval Liquid Fire
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Published 2023-08-20
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Few military inventions of the Middle Ages have fascinated historians and history buffs more than the mysterious incendiary known as Greek fire. This infamous Byzantine weapon has often been compared to modern flame-throwers, and its Arab counterpart, which was thrown in small round pots, to hand grenades. To this day, however, the substance itself and how it was deployed are shrouded in myth despite extensive research and testing – although many articles and videos here on YouTube and elsewhere suggest the opposite. Here is what we know and don’t know about the liquid fire of the middle-ages.
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Pryor, J. H. and Jeffreys, E. M., Age of the DROMON: The Byzantine Navy, ca. 500-1204. Leiden 2006.
Partington, J. R., A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, Baltimore 1999.
Madgearu, A., s. v. “Greek Fire” in: Clifford J. Rogers (ed), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, 2010.
Leo VI, The Taktika of Leo VI. Ed. and trans. George T. Dennis. Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 12. Washington: 2010.
Pryor, J. H. and Jeffreys, E. M., Age of the DROMON: The Byzantine Navy, ca. 500-1204. Leiden 2006.
John H. Haldon, Maurice Byrne, A possible solution of the Greek Fire. In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 70 (1977).
DeVries, K./ Smith, R. D., Medieval Military Technology, Toronto 2012.
All Comments (21)
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Always love some thoroughly anti-clickbait content like this
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The Greeks: Let´s invent flamethrowers !!! The Europeans: It looked like a flying dragon, WoW !!!
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Amazing how we can be so sure Greek Fire existed, but at the same time have no idea what it really was.
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I loved parking a single Naphtha team above the gate of a fortress in TW Medieval II. Any rams that got close were set on fire instantly, and any infantry that tried to storm the gates broke and ran straight away. It was bliss.
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Germany in ww1: we uses flamethrowers for the first time in combat Byzantine empire: hold my Greek fire
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small note for those interested, the name the byzantines used for this material was "liquid fire" (υγρόν πύρ- igron pir).
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Staggering illustrations nonetheless. Can you some vids on more overlooked parts of Byzantine and Middle ages Greek lands like the History of Moreea and how come it managed to be so well defended against the turks. Or about the politics and wars on these so fractured realms before the fall of Constantinople
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I LOOOOVE THE SMELL OF GREEK FIRE IN THE MORNING
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Greek fire is actually my mixtape in liquid form.
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You might want to check Spanish historian José Soto’s novel, “Bajo el fuego y la sal”, dealing with the sack of Rome in 843 A.D. it revolves around Greek fire, providing interesting facts about the methods and processes to make the mixture and weaponizing it.
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One little detail: these flamethrowers as depicted could potentially self-destruct in an explosion when the fuel is almost used up! A superheated fuel and you pump air in and at some point you'll reach the concentration window where fuel air mix will explode...
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Can you please do something on the stradioti? They were Balkan (mostly Greek, Albanian and Arvanite) light horseman who were used throughout Europe as mercenaries.
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If there are so many vessels that have been found, has anyone attempted to examine the interior to see what liquids might have been inside? chemical tests examinations with the microscope...
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Great choice of topic! I know that this will be an awesome video. Extra kudos for investigating and discussing the Umayyad Caliphate’s own variant of the powerful “Greek Fire” weapon!
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Great to see the comments so active so soon after release, amazing to see how much the channel has grown since the burgundy wars episodes
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Im betting it acted as a sort of napalm. Sticky jelly like liquid that ignites and sticks to everything it touches
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11:27 love the fireball animation here
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I would pay for a generalized cover of Medieval and Early Modern grenades, especially hand grenades.
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Greek Fire is what I experience in my bowels after eating undercooked gyros
