Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries, yet its defining characteristic was its ability to burn on water. While ancient armies had used sulfur, petroleum, and bitumen-based mixtures for centuries, no substance before this one could maintain a flame while floating on the sea. This liquid fire was not merely a projectile but a complete weapon system comprising specialized dromon ships, pressurized tubes, and a formula so secret that its exact composition remains lost to history. Modern scholars agree that the mixture was likely based on petroleum mixed with resins, creating a substance comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantine sailors would toss grenades loaded with Greek fire onto enemy ships or spray it from tubes, turning the sea itself into a deadly trap for their enemies. The ability to burn on water made it an effective and destructive naval incendiary weapon, and rival powers tried unsuccessfully to copy the material. The name Greek fire has been used in English and most other languages since the Crusades, but original Byzantine sources called the substance a variety of names, such as sea fire, Roman fire, war fire, liquid fire, sticky fire, or manufactured fire. The mystery of the formula has long dominated research into Greek fire, with historians speculating that it was based on saltpeter, sulfur, or quicklime, but the truth remains hidden in the annals of time.
The Architect From The East
The development of Greek fire proper is ascribed by the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor to Kallinikos, a Jewish architect from Heliopolis in Syria, who fled to Constantinople after the city was overrun by the Muslim conquests. This event occurred at a critical moment in the Byzantine Empire's history, as the empire had been weakened by long wars with Sassanid Persia and was unable to effectively resist the onslaught of the Muslim conquests. Within a generation, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had fallen to the Arabs, who in 674 set out to conquer the imperial capital of Constantinople. The accuracy and exact chronology of this account is open to question, as Theophanes reports the use of fire-carrying ships equipped with nozzles by the Byzantines a couple of years before the supposed arrival of Kallinikos at Constantinople. If this is not due to chronological confusion of the events of the siege, it may suggest that Kallinikos introduced an improved version of an established weapon. The historian James Partington thinks it likely that Greek fire was not the creation of any single person but invented by chemists in Constantinople who had inherited the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school. The 11th-century chronicler George Kedrenos records that Kallinikos came from Heliopolis in Egypt, but most scholars reject this as an error. Kedrenos also records the story, considered implausible by modern scholars, that Kallinikos' descendants, a family called the Kallinikoi, brilliant, kept the secret of the fire's manufacture and continued doing so to Kedrenos' time. The weapon was used to great effect against the Muslim fleets, helping to repel the Muslims at the first and second Arab sieges of the city.The Divine Secret And The Angel
The importance placed on Greek fire during the Empire's struggle against the Arabs led to its discovery being ascribed to divine intervention. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos, in his book, admonishes his son and heir, Romanos II, never to reveal the secrets of its composition, as it was shown and revealed by an angel to the great and holy first Christian emperor Constantine. The angel bound him not to prepare this fire but for Christians, and only in the imperial city. As a warning, he adds that one official, who was bribed into handing some of it over to the Empire's enemies, was struck down by a flame from heaven as he was about to enter a church. As the latter incident demonstrates, the Byzantines could not avoid capture of their secret weapon: the Arabs captured at least one fireship intact in 827, and the Bulgars captured several s and much of the substance itself in 812 or 814. This was apparently not enough to allow their enemies to copy it. The Arabs used various incendiary substances similar to the Byzantine weapon, but were never able to copy the Byzantine method of deployment by siphon, and used catapults and grenades instead. Greek fire continued to be mentioned during the 12th century, and Anna Komnene gives a vivid description of its use in a naval battle against the Pisans in 1099. The use of hastily improvised fireships is mentioned during the 1203 siege of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, but no report confirms the use of Greek fire. This might be because of the general disarmament of the Empire in the 20 years leading up to the sacking, or because the Byzantines had lost access to the areas where the primary ingredients were to be found, or even perhaps because the secret had been lost over time.The Thundering Projectors
The chief method of deployment of Greek fire, which sets it apart from similar substances, was its projection through a tube, known as a siphon, for use aboard ships or in sieges. Portable projectors, called cheirosiphones or hand-siphons, were also invented, reputedly by Emperor Leo VI. The Byzantine military manuals also mention that jars filled with Greek fire and caltrops wrapped with tow and soaked in the substance were thrown by catapults, while pivoting cranes were employed to pour it upon enemy ships. The cheirosiphones especially were prescribed for use at land and in sieges, both against siege machines and against defenders on the walls, by several 10th-century military authors, and their use is depicted in the Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium. The Byzantine dromons usually had a siphon installed on their prow under the forecastle, but additional devices could also be placed elsewhere on the ship. Thus in 941, when the Byzantines were facing the vastly more numerous Rus' fleet, siphons were placed also amidships and even astern. Anna Komnene gives this account of beast-shaped Greek fire projectors being mounted to the bow of warships, where the Emperor Alexios I had a head fixed of a lion or other land-animal, made in brass or iron with the mouth open and then gilded over, so that their mere aspect was terrifying. The fire which was to be directed against the enemy through tubes he made to pass through the mouths of the beasts, so that it seemed as if the lions and the other similar monsters were vomiting the fire. The discharge of Greek fire was accompanied by thunder and much smoke, creating a psychological and physical terror for the enemy.The Chemistry Of Destruction
Most modern scholars agree that Greek fire was based on either crude or refined petroleum, comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantines had easy access to crude oil from the naturally occurring wells around the Black Sea, such as the wells around Tmutorakan noted by Constantine Porphyrogennetos, or in various locations throughout the Middle East. An alternate name for Greek fire was Median fire, and the 6th-century historian Procopius records that crude oil, called naphtha by the Persians, was known to the Greeks as Median oil. Naphtha was also used by the Abbasids in the 9th century, with special troops, the Arbanites, who wore thick protective suits and used small copper vessels containing burning oil, which they threw onto the enemy troops. There is also a surviving 9th-century Latin text, preserved at Wolfenbüttel in Germany, which mentions the ingredients of what appears to be Greek fire and the operation of the siphons used to project it. Although the text contains some inaccuracies, it identifies the main component as naphtha. Resins were probably added as a thickener, and to increase the duration and intensity of the flame. A modern theoretical concoction included the use of pine tar and animal fat. A 12th-century treatise prepared by Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi for Saladin records an Arab version of Greek fire, called al-naft, which also had a petroleum base, with sulfur and various resins added. Any direct relation with the Byzantine formula is unlikely. The substance burned on water, and according to some interpretations it was ignited by water. Numerous writers testify that it could be extinguished only by a few substances, such as sand, strong vinegar, or old urine, some presumably by a sort of chemical reaction. The discharge of Greek fire was accompanied by thunder and much smoke, and it was a liquid substance, not some sort of projectile, as verified both by descriptions and the name liquid fire.The Siege Of The Rus
The Byzantines used the weapon to devastating effect against the various Rus' raids on the Bosporus, especially those of 941 and 1043, as well as during the Bulgarian war of 970 to 971, when the fire-carrying Byzantine ships blockaded the Danube. In 941, when the Byzantines were facing the vastly more numerous Rus' fleet, siphons were placed also amidships and even astern to maximize their defensive capabilities. The account from the 11th-century Yngvars saga víðförla describes the Viking Ingvar the Far-Travelled facing ships equipped with Greek fire weapons, where they began blowing with smiths' bellows at a furnace in which there was fire and there came from it a great din. There stood there also a brass or bronze tube and from it flew much fire against one ship, and it burned up in a short time so that all of it became white ashes. The account, albeit embellished, corresponds with many of the characteristics of Greek fire known from other sources, such as a loud roar that accompanied its discharge. These two texts are also the only two sources that explicitly mention that the substance was heated over a furnace before being discharged, although the validity of this information is open to question, modern reconstructions have relied upon them. The process of operating the mechanism was fraught with danger, as the mounting pressure could easily make the heated oil tank explode, a flaw which was not recorded as a problem with the historical fire weapon. In the experiments conducted by Haldon in 2002 for the episode Fireship of the television series Machines Times Forgot, even modern welding techniques failed to secure adequate insulation of the bronze tank under pressure. This led to the relocation of the pressure pump between the tank and the nozzle. The full-scale device built on this basis established the effectiveness of the mechanism's design, even with the simple materials and techniques available to the Byzantines. The experiment used crude oil mixed with wood resins, and achieved a flame temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius and an effective range of up to 15 meters.The Lost Legacy And Modern Myths
In the 19th century, it is reported that an Armenian called Kavafian approached the government of the Ottoman Empire with a new type of Greek fire he claimed to have developed. Kavafian refused to reveal its composition when asked by the government, insisting that he be placed in command of its use during naval engagements. Not long after this, he was poisoned by imperial authorities, without them ever having found out his secret. Greek fire continued to be mentioned during the 12th century, and Anna Komnene gives a vivid description of its use in a naval battle against the Pisans in 1099. Records of a 13th-century use of Greek fire by the Saracens against the Crusaders can be read through the Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville during the Seventh Crusade. One description of the memoir says 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. In literature, Greek fire appears in William Golding's 1958 play The Brass Butterfly, Victor Canning's stage play Honour Bright, Rick Riordan's Greek storyline, C. J. Sansom's historical mystery novel Dark Fire, Michael Crichton's sci-fi novel Timeline, Mika Waltari's novel The Dark Angel, and George R. R. Martin's fantasy series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, where wildfire is similar to Greek fire. In popular culture, Greek fire was used by Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and an application of Greek fire is shown in the 2011 Ubisoft video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations when the main character, Ezio Auditore, escapes from the port of Istanbul using a hand projector located on an Ottoman ship.Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries, yet its defining characteristic was its ability to burn on water. While ancient armies had used sulfur, petroleum, and bitumen-based mixtures for centuries, no substance before this one could maintain a flame while floating on the sea. This liquid fire was not merely a projectile but a complete weapon system comprising specialized dromon ships, pressurized tubes, and a formula so secret that its exact composition remains lost to history. Modern scholars agree that the mixture was likely based on petroleum mixed with resins, creating a substance comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantine sailors would toss grenades loaded with Greek fire onto enemy ships or spray it from tubes, turning the sea itself into a deadly trap for their enemies. The ability to burn on water made it an effective and destructive naval incendiary weapon, and rival powers tried unsuccessfully to copy the material. The name Greek fire has been used in English and most other languages since the Crusades, but original Byzantine sources called the substance a variety of names, such as sea fire, Roman fire, war fire, liquid fire, sticky fire, or manufactured fire. The mystery of the formula has long dominated research into Greek fire, with historians speculating that it was based on saltpeter, sulfur, or quicklime, but the truth remains hidden in the annals of time.
The Architect From The East
The development of Greek fire proper is ascribed by the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor to Kallinikos, a Jewish architect from Heliopolis in Syria, who fled to Constantinople after the city was overrun by the Muslim conquests. This event occurred at a critical moment in the Byzantine Empire's history, as the empire had been weakened by long wars with Sassanid Persia and was unable to effectively resist the onslaught of the Muslim conquests. Within a generation, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had fallen to the Arabs, who in 674 set out to conquer the imperial capital of Constantinople. The accuracy and exact chronology of this account is open to question, as Theophanes reports the use of fire-carrying ships equipped with nozzles by the Byzantines a couple of years before the supposed arrival of Kallinikos at Constantinople. If this is not due to chronological confusion of the events of the siege, it may suggest that Kallinikos introduced an improved version of an established weapon. The historian James Partington thinks it likely that Greek fire was not the creation of any single person but invented by chemists in Constantinople who had inherited the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school. The 11th-century chronicler George Kedrenos records that Kallinikos came from Heliopolis in Egypt, but most scholars reject this as an error. Kedrenos also records the story, considered implausible by modern scholars, that Kallinikos' descendants, a family called the Kallinikoi, brilliant, kept the secret of the fire's manufacture and continued doing so to Kedrenos' time. The weapon was used to great effect against the Muslim fleets, helping to repel the Muslims at the first and second Arab sieges of the city.
The Divine Secret And The Angel
The importance placed on Greek fire during the Empire's struggle against the Arabs led to its discovery being ascribed to divine intervention. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos, in his book, admonishes his son and heir, Romanos II, never to reveal the secrets of its composition, as it was shown and revealed by an angel to the great and holy first Christian emperor Constantine. The angel bound him not to prepare this fire but for Christians, and only in the imperial city. As a warning, he adds that one official, who was bribed into handing some of it over to the Empire's enemies, was struck down by a flame from heaven as he was about to enter a church. As the latter incident demonstrates, the Byzantines could not avoid capture of their secret weapon: the Arabs captured at least one fireship intact in 827, and the Bulgars captured several s and much of the substance itself in 812 or 814. This was apparently not enough to allow their enemies to copy it. The Arabs used various incendiary substances similar to the Byzantine weapon, but were never able to copy the Byzantine method of deployment by siphon, and used catapults and grenades instead. Greek fire continued to be mentioned during the 12th century, and Anna Komnene gives a vivid description of its use in a naval battle against the Pisans in 1099. The use of hastily improvised fireships is mentioned during the 1203 siege of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, but no report confirms the use of Greek fire. This might be because of the general disarmament of the Empire in the 20 years leading up to the sacking, or because the Byzantines had lost access to the areas where the primary ingredients were to be found, or even perhaps because the secret had been lost over time.
The Thundering Projectors
The chief method of deployment of Greek fire, which sets it apart from similar substances, was its projection through a tube, known as a siphon, for use aboard ships or in sieges. Portable projectors, called cheirosiphones or hand-siphons, were also invented, reputedly by Emperor Leo VI. The Byzantine military manuals also mention that jars filled with Greek fire and caltrops wrapped with tow and soaked in the substance were thrown by catapults, while pivoting cranes were employed to pour it upon enemy ships. The cheirosiphones especially were prescribed for use at land and in sieges, both against siege machines and against defenders on the walls, by several 10th-century military authors, and their use is depicted in the Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium. The Byzantine dromons usually had a siphon installed on their prow under the forecastle, but additional devices could also be placed elsewhere on the ship. Thus in 941, when the Byzantines were facing the vastly more numerous Rus' fleet, siphons were placed also amidships and even astern. Anna Komnene gives this account of beast-shaped Greek fire projectors being mounted to the bow of warships, where the Emperor Alexios I had a head fixed of a lion or other land-animal, made in brass or iron with the mouth open and then gilded over, so that their mere aspect was terrifying. The fire which was to be directed against the enemy through tubes he made to pass through the mouths of the beasts, so that it seemed as if the lions and the other similar monsters were vomiting the fire. The discharge of Greek fire was accompanied by thunder and much smoke, creating a psychological and physical terror for the enemy.
The Chemistry Of Destruction
Most modern scholars agree that Greek fire was based on either crude or refined petroleum, comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantines had easy access to crude oil from the naturally occurring wells around the Black Sea, such as the wells around Tmutorakan noted by Constantine Porphyrogennetos, or in various locations throughout the Middle East. An alternate name for Greek fire was Median fire, and the 6th-century historian Procopius records that crude oil, called naphtha by the Persians, was known to the Greeks as Median oil. Naphtha was also used by the Abbasids in the 9th century, with special troops, the Arbanites, who wore thick protective suits and used small copper vessels containing burning oil, which they threw onto the enemy troops. There is also a surviving 9th-century Latin text, preserved at Wolfenbüttel in Germany, which mentions the ingredients of what appears to be Greek fire and the operation of the siphons used to project it. Although the text contains some inaccuracies, it identifies the main component as naphtha. Resins were probably added as a thickener, and to increase the duration and intensity of the flame. A modern theoretical concoction included the use of pine tar and animal fat. A 12th-century treatise prepared by Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi for Saladin records an Arab version of Greek fire, called al-naft, which also had a petroleum base, with sulfur and various resins added. Any direct relation with the Byzantine formula is unlikely. The substance burned on water, and according to some interpretations it was ignited by water. Numerous writers testify that it could be extinguished only by a few substances, such as sand, strong vinegar, or old urine, some presumably by a sort of chemical reaction. The discharge of Greek fire was accompanied by thunder and much smoke, and it was a liquid substance, not some sort of projectile, as verified both by descriptions and the name liquid fire.
The Siege Of The Rus
The Byzantines used the weapon to devastating effect against the various Rus' raids on the Bosporus, especially those of 941 and 1043, as well as during the Bulgarian war of 970 to 971, when the fire-carrying Byzantine ships blockaded the Danube. In 941, when the Byzantines were facing the vastly more numerous Rus' fleet, siphons were placed also amidships and even astern to maximize their defensive capabilities. The account from the 11th-century Yngvars saga víðförla describes the Viking Ingvar the Far-Travelled facing ships equipped with Greek fire weapons, where they began blowing with smiths' bellows at a furnace in which there was fire and there came from it a great din. There stood there also a brass or bronze tube and from it flew much fire against one ship, and it burned up in a short time so that all of it became white ashes. The account, albeit embellished, corresponds with many of the characteristics of Greek fire known from other sources, such as a loud roar that accompanied its discharge. These two texts are also the only two sources that explicitly mention that the substance was heated over a furnace before being discharged, although the validity of this information is open to question, modern reconstructions have relied upon them. The process of operating the mechanism was fraught with danger, as the mounting pressure could easily make the heated oil tank explode, a flaw which was not recorded as a problem with the historical fire weapon. In the experiments conducted by Haldon in 2002 for the episode Fireship of the television series Machines Times Forgot, even modern welding techniques failed to secure adequate insulation of the bronze tank under pressure. This led to the relocation of the pressure pump between the tank and the nozzle. The full-scale device built on this basis established the effectiveness of the mechanism's design, even with the simple materials and techniques available to the Byzantines. The experiment used crude oil mixed with wood resins, and achieved a flame temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius and an effective range of up to 15 meters.
The Lost Legacy And Modern Myths
In the 19th century, it is reported that an Armenian called Kavafian approached the government of the Ottoman Empire with a new type of Greek fire he claimed to have developed. Kavafian refused to reveal its composition when asked by the government, insisting that he be placed in command of its use during naval engagements. Not long after this, he was poisoned by imperial authorities, without them ever having found out his secret. Greek fire continued to be mentioned during the 12th century, and Anna Komnene gives a vivid description of its use in a naval battle against the Pisans in 1099. Records of a 13th-century use of Greek fire by the Saracens against the Crusaders can be read through the Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville during the Seventh Crusade. One description of the memoir says 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. In literature, Greek fire appears in William Golding's 1958 play The Brass Butterfly, Victor Canning's stage play Honour Bright, Rick Riordan's Greek storyline, C. J. Sansom's historical mystery novel Dark Fire, Michael Crichton's sci-fi novel Timeline, Mika Waltari's novel The Dark Angel, and George R. R. Martin's fantasy series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, where wildfire is similar to Greek fire. In popular culture, Greek fire was used by Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and an application of Greek fire is shown in the 2011 Ubisoft video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations when the main character, Ezio Auditore, escapes from the port of Istanbul using a hand projector located on an Ottoman ship.