ὑγρὸν πῦρ -- "Liquid Fire"

One ancient version of napalm, or liquid fire (also commonly called "Greek Fire"), was utilized extensively by the Byzantine empire from the 6th through 13th century. Its invention is often attributed to Kallinikos, but historical record casts some doubt on this claim. The weapon itself is some mixture of flammable material which could burn on/in water, and was only extinguished through oxygen depletion or chemical reaction. The actual composition of Greek Fire remains an historical mystery. Liquid fire could be hurled in containers, a la the Molotov Cocktail, or sprayed through pressure-pumped cylinders and ignited in-stream, like a modern flamethrower.

   At what period the ancient Greek fire was invented has never been certainly determined. There are many writers who place the invention in a far antiquity. Historical details have been adduced pointing to the period of the earlier wars between the Greeks and Romans as the true era of the discovery. But we do not find any certain evidence of the use of Greek fire until the sieges of Constantinople, in the seventh and eighth centuries, though a Father of the Christian Church, writing in the fifth century, gave receipts for making a combustible substance of similar qualities from the compounds resin, sulphur, pitch, pigeon's dung, turpentine, and the juice of the herb 'all-heal.'

It is related that the true Greek fire was invented by a certain Callinicus, an architect of Heliopolis, in Syria (Baalbec), in 678. The secret of the composition of this artificial flame, and the art of directing its action, were imparted by Callinicus---who had deserted from the Caliph---to the Emperor of Constantinople. From this period until the year 1291 the use of Greek fire was an important element in the military power of the Byzantine empire. The progress of the Saracens was, more than once, decisively checked by the destructive action of this powerful and terrible flame. The important art of compounding the fire 'was preserved at Constantinople,' says Gibbon, 'as the palladium of the state: the galleys and artillery might occasionally be lent to the allies of Rome; but the composition of the Greek fire was concealed with the most zealous scruple, and the terror of the enemy was increased and prolonged by their ignorance and surprise.'

The accounts which have reached us respecting the properties of the Greek fire are such as to justify the high value attached by the Byzantine emperors to the secret of its composition. It was a liquid, which was propelled by various methods against the ships or engines of the enemy. So long as it was kept from the air, or remained in large masses, the liquid appears to have been perfectly safe from combustion; but as soon as it was poured forth it burned with an intense flame which consumed everything around---not merely burning upwards, but with equal fury downwards and laterally. Water not only failed to quench it, but made it burn with new ardour. To subdue the flames it was necessary to employ, in large quantities, either sand or vinegar. Various methods were employed for propelling the liquid fire towards the enemy. Sometimes it was enclosed in vessels made of some brittle substance, and these were flung at the enemy by means of suitable projectile machines. 'It was either,' says Gibbon, 'poured from the rampart in large boilers, or launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil.' But the effectual use of the destructive compound seems to have been best secured by means of a species of fire-ships specially constructed for the purpose. Copper and iron machines were placed in the fore-part of these ships. Long tubes, fantastically shaped, so as to resemble the mouth and jaws of savage animals, formed the outlet for a stream of liquid fire, which the engine---literally a fire- engine---propelled to a great distance. Hand-engines were also constructed by which the destructive compound could be spurted by the soldiers, Beckman tells us.

The secret, as we have said, was carefully kept by the Byzantines. The emperor Constantine suggested the answers which in his opinion were best fitted to elude the pertinacious questioning of the barbarians. 'They should be told that the mystery of the Greek fire had been revealed by an angel to the first and greatest of the Constantines, with the sacred injunction that this gift of Heaven---this peculiar blessing of the Romans---should never be communicated to any foreign nation; that the prince and subject were alike bound to religious silence under the temporal and spiritual penalties of treason and sacrilege; and that the infamous attempt would provoke the sudden and supernatural vengeance of the God of the Christians.' Gibbon adds that the secret thus religiously guarded was 'confined for above 400 years to the Romans of the East; and at the end of the eleventh century the Pisans to whom every sea and every art were familiar suffered the effects without understanding the composition of Greek fire.' ^[1] 

 1. Proctor, Richard A. The Universe of Suns and Other Science Gleanings. R. Worthington: New York. 1884.

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诸葛弩

The 诸葛弩 (Zhūgé nǔ) was a repeating crossbow used extensively by the Chinese from the 4th century B.C. (perhaps even earlier), well into the 20th century A.D. Due to the weapon's inaccurate, high rate of fire, it was ideally suited for close-quarter urban combat or as a fixed, anti-siege defensive weapon. It was employed to great effect as late as the Boxer Rebellion, despite the presence of firearms with more advanced characteristics, like rifled barrels and breech-loaded metallic cartridges. The 诸葛弩 was often documented by historians with an inquisitive fondness. Indeed, the captivating cleverness of the weapon's design, it's combination of modern engineering precepts and rustic simplicity, command attention to this day.

     "Here we have surely the most curious of all the weapons I have described. Though the antiquity of the repeating crossbow is so great that the date of its introduction is beyond conjecture, it is to this day carried by Chinese soldiers in the more remote districts of their empire.  In the recent war between China and Japan, 1894-95, the repeating crossbow was frequently seen among troops who came from the interior of the first-named country. The interesting and unique feature of this crossbow is its repeating action, which though so crudely simple acts perfectly and enables the crossbowman to discharge ten arrows in fifteen seconds. When bows, and crossbows which shot one bolt at a time, were the usual missive weapons of the Chinese, it is probable that the repeating crossbow was very effective for stopping the rush of an enemy in the open, or for defending fortified positions. For example, one hundred men with repeating crossbows could send a thousand arrows into their opponents' ranks in a quarter of a minute. On the other hand, one hundred men with bows, or with ordinary crossbows that shot only one arrow at a discharge, would not be able to loose more than about two hundred arrows in fifteen seconds. The effect of a continuous stream of a thousand arrows flying into a crowd of assailants--in so short a space as fifteen seconds--would, of course, be infinitely greater than that of only two hundred in the same time, especially as the arrows of barbaric nations were often smeared with poison. The small and light arrow of the comparatively weak Chinese crossbow here described had little penetrative power. For this reason the head of the arrow was sometimes dipped in poison, in order that a slight wound might prove fatal. The impetus of the heavy bolt of the mediaeval European crossbow which had a thick steel bow, was sufficient to destroy life without the aid of such a cruel accessory as poison." [1]

[1]

    "The most characteristic Chinese weapon with which I am acquainted is the repeating crossbow (shown below), which, by simply working a lever backward and forward, drops the arrows in succession front of the string, draws the bow, shoots the missile, and supplies its place with another. The particular weapon from which the drawings are taken was said to have been one of the many arms which were captured in the Peiho fort.

     It is not at all easy to describe the working of this curious bow, but, with the aid of the illustration, I will try to make it intelligible.

     The bow itself is made of three strong, separate pieces of bamboo, overlapping each other like the plates of a carriage-spring, which indeed it exactly resembles. This mounted on a stock, and, as the bow is intended for wall defence, it is supported the middle by a pivot. So far, we have a simple crossbow; we have now to see how the repeating machinery is constructed. Upon the upper surface of the stock lies oblong box, which we will call the "slide." It is just wide and long enough to contain the arrows, and is open above, so as to allow them to be dropped into it.

When in the slide, the arrows necessarily lie one the other, and, in order to prevent from being jerked out of the slide by shock of the bowstring, the opening can closed by a little wooden shutter slides over it.

     Through the lower part of the slide a tranverse slit is cut, and the bowstring led through this cut, so that the presses the slide upon the stock. Now come to the lever. It is shaped like the Greek letter "π" the cross-piece forming the handle. The lever is jointed to the stock by an pin or bolt, and to the slide by another bolt. Now, if the lever be worked to and fro, slide is pushed backward and forward the stock, but without any other result.

     Supposing that we wish to make lever draw the bow, we have only to cut notch in the under part of the slit which the string is led. As the slide along the stock, the string by its own falls into the notch, and is drawn back, together with the slide, thus bending the bow. Still, however much we may the lever, the string will remain in notch, and must therefore be thrown out a kind of trigger. This is self-acting, and equally simple and ingenious. Immediately under the notch which holds the string, a wooden peg plays loosely through a hole.

When the slide is thrust forward and string falls into the notch, it pushes the peg out of the hole. But when the lever slide are drawn backward to their full extent, the lower end of the peg strikes the stock, so that it is forced violently through the hole, and pushes the string out of the notch.

     We will now refer to the illustration. Fig. 1 represents the bow as it appears the lever and slide have been thrust forward, and the string has fallen into the notch. Fig. 2 represents it as it appears when the lever has been brought back, and the string released.

     A is the bow, made of three layers of male bamboo, the two outer being the longest. B is the string. This is made of very thick catgut, as is needed to withstand the friction which it has to undergo, and the violent shock of the bow. It is fastened in a wonderfully ingenious manner, by a "hitch" rather than a knot, so that it is drawn tighter in proportion to the tension. It passes round the end of the bow, through a hole, and then presses upon itself.

    C C show the stock, and D is the slide. E is the opening of the slide, through which the arrows are introduced into it, and it shown as partially closed by the little shutter F. The lever is seen at G, together with the two pins which connect it with the stock and the slide. H shows the notch in the slide which receives the string. I is the pivot on which the weapon rests, K is the handle, and L the place whence the arrows issue.

     If the reader should have followed this description carefully, he will see that the only limit to the rapidity of fire is the quickness with which the lever can be worked to and fro. As it is thrust forward, the string drops into the notch, the trigger peg is set, and an arrow falls with its butt just in front of the string. When it is drawn sharply back, the string is released by the trigger-peg, the arrow is propelled, and another falls into its place. If, therefore, a boy be kept at work supplying the slide with arrows, a constant stream of missiles can be poured from this weapon.

     The arrows are very much like the "bolts" of the old English crossbow. They are armed with heavy and solid steel heads, and are feathered in a very ingenious manner. The feathers are so slight, that at first they appear as if they were mere black scratches on the shaft. They are, however, feathers, projecting barely a fiftieth of an inch from the shaft, but being arranged in a slightly spiral form so as to catch the air, and impart a rotary motion to the arrow. By the side of the crossbow in Fig.2 is seen a bundle of the arrows.

     The strength of this bow is very great, though not so great as I have been told. It possesses but little powers of aim, and against a single and moving adversary would be useless. But for the purpose for which it was designed, namely, a wall piece which will pour a series of missiles upon a body of men, it is a very efficient weapon, and can make itself felt even against the modern rifle. The range of this bow is said to be 400 yards, but I should think that its extreme effective range is at the most from 60 to 80 yards, and that even in that case it would be almost useless, except against large bodies of soldiers." [2]

[2]

1. Payne-Gallwey, Sir Ralph. The Crossbow; mediæval and modern, military and sporting: its construction, history, & management. Longman's, Green and Co.: London. 1903.

2. Wood, J.G. The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world: being comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characterics. J.A. Brainerd and Co.: Cincinnati .1876.

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