What Actually was Greek Fire?
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not going to lie Nord doesn't look too bad
@@JesusRaves😊😅😅😊😅😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😅😅😊😊😅😅😊😊😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😅😅😊😊8😅😅😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅98😅😅😅😅😅😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😅 6:09 😅😊 6:12 😊88😅😊😅😅 6:17 😅😅😅 6:18 😅😅😅😅😅 6:22 😅😅😅 6:23 😅😅😊😅😅 6:27 😅😅😅😅88😅8😊😊8😅8😊😅😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😊😊😅😅 6:52 😅88😅 6:54 😊 6:55 😅😊 6:58 😊😅 7:02 😊😅 7:04 7:05 😅😅😅😅😊😅😊😊😅8 7:12 😅😅😊😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😊😅😊😅 7:26 😊888😊8😅😊 7:31 9😊88😅😅😅😅8😊😊😅😅😅😅8 7:44 7😅😅😅😅
@@JesusRavesit is bad
hahahah shot@@DemonKiller32
in my opinion
Although the recipe for Greek Fire was lost to the ages, the flamethrower design would find its way to China. The Pen Huo Qi (literally meaning "fire spraying device") first saw action in the 10th century, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It's design was based on blueprints from seventh century Byzantine siphons. They were reverse engineered to have dual bellows. This upgrade allowed Chinese fire siphons to achieve a more continuous flame, basically allowing them to have a constant stream of fire using liquid naphtha like modern day flamethrowers, rather than in short bursts. And just like the Byzantines, the Chinese did make use of these crude flamethrowers offensively, such as mounting them on ships or bringing them to the battlefield on four wheeled pushcarts. However the Chinese tended to use this weapon defensively. Flamethrowers would often be mounted on the walls of cities or forts where they would fire down upon soldiers assaulting the walls or burn down incoming siege engines.
My grandfather has half his thigh missing. Just a big gnarly hole filled with scar tissue. All from a small piece of white phosphorus the size of a penny landed on him. It burned to the bone before it was cut out. Fire is probably the most terrifying death
Fun fact
Greek fire is known in Greek as liquid fire (Υγρό πυρ)
I love the smell of Greek fire in the morning.
There was definitely some sort of oxidizer in the mix to get the petroleum products ripping like that. Kerosene and Naphthalene (gasoline) aren't actually all that flammable on their own. They either need to be atomized, vaporized or wicked.
The other thing that stood out is how it managed to burn things quickly to ash even though it was a coating. If you soak a piece of paper in rubbing alcohol, the paper won't burn unless there is isopropyl alcohol left after the water has vaporized. Another example is the use of gelled gasoline for immolation stunts, because the fuel boiling off prevents any heat from making it to the performer. It would seem this stuff behaves more like white phosphorus. With all of the alchemy and early science being done at the time, plus the knowledge of distillation, it is fully possible they stumbled upon phosphorus over a millennium before it's rediscovery.
I don't know about Greek Fire, but i do know styrofoam peanuts dissolved in gasoline is some pretty nasty stuff.
Styrofoam in general, doesn't have to be packing peanuts.....
Terry Jones covered this ages ago with some great special effects. Not as many extracts from ancient texts, though.
Probably the best means of reconstruction, one would assume, would be to look for wrecked Arab ships from the time when Greek fire was first used and put the charred remains of them under a spectrometer to determine the composition of the combustion products, since those combustion products will give us a clue about what it was that produced them, especially the incomplete ones. Without any documentation, modern analysis tools are our next best thing.
The later recipe from the early 1200s mentioned pine trees, which is the main source of not only resin that can be used as a thickener but also, and this wasn’t mentioned in the video either, toluene, a highly flammable solvent and the main precursor to TNT, which was first isolated by distilling pine oil. Adding saltpeter, quicklime, and sulfur to toluene, plus adding some tar as a thickener, might thus come pretty damn close to replicating the original recipe given what we’ve been told.
you really thinking charred wooden boats still exist from that era? they all disintegrated by this point from rot.
@@treebush They would have also carried swords, shields, and other metal objects on board that would still be intact and would likely have accumulated enough uncombusted material on them to be tested, provided they didn’t melt.
I'm thinking it would be better left in history and NOT replicated today, because I have no problems in envisioning countries (or rather leaders of countries) who would have no hesitation in using it, probably against innocent civilian populations.
@@ABC1701A dont worry they have robots that can kill you from the atmosphere
@@ABC1701A You do realise that leaders of countries now have access to flamethrowers (not to mention things like devastating 'cluster munitions'), right..?
love it when Simon covers historic content, because that's my area.
Maybe Simon can tell us “what not to do” with the translation. That way we know what we shouldn’t do.
The formula for Greek fire is in the manuscript “book of fires for burning the enemy” we still have copies
Was it the original Byzantium Greek fire or one of the contemporaries or precursors that didn't perform quite as well.
Spoiler they don't ever tell you what actually was Greek fire
Thanks for that...does anyone know?
@thegreencat9947 no, just like with Roman concrete, and Damascus steel, the actual recipes were lost to antiquity
@@captainspaulding5963 As for the Damascus steel, I think that was a fluke regarding the single source iron ore deposit having very particular impurities in it. I think tungsten was involved and crystal matrix shenagans resulted in the alternating shimmer stripes that came through if tempered correctly. That natural alloy combined with the technical advancements of the metallurgists in Northern India who had mastered the art of crucible steel at that time. Those ingots were exported to Europe via Damascus, hence the name we use for it. Damascus is also where many of the legendary swords were made, though some ingots were imported directly to Scandinavia where we have the Uthbert swords made from the same Damascus steel but in the local style. In addition to manufacturing swords and other fine metal goods, the city of Damascus was also a processor of raw iron and manufacturer of steel, so it was a guarded secret to their buyers in mainland Europe that the wonder-steel was actually imported.
Napalm
Thanks bud!👍 Cheers
styrofoam and gasoline go hard
Greek fire was indeed an awesome and battle-winning weapon and certainly the precursor of napalm as it apparently burnt even on water but the first recorded use of a genuine flamethrower is from 424 BC when the wooden walls of Delium were apparently destroyed by some form of flamethrower thus destroying the Athenian defenders during the Peloponnesian War. It appears to have been some form of early "bellows" that could spurt flame, although it wasn't Greek Fire as such.
Some of the descriptions make me think of burning plastic bags..... The dripping sound is mental and when you get a lot it sounds like screaming. That was one of my favorite discoveries as a kid.... 😁👍
Them ants didn’t like it tho 🔥 🐜 🪦
@@flipmode45 - I didn't burn insects as a kid, but I did burn an abandoned garage trying to hide and smoke a cigarette..... 😅
There's a couple train track bridges where I live and we used to wrap a wire around a garbage bag then hang it from the tracks then lit it and sat underneath the bridge and listen to it dripping.... Wouldn't do that now because the whole bridge would probably burst into flames but back then it was fun. 😁👍
mix in styrofoam and you've essentially got poor man's napalm. That shit burns forever.
So Greek fire was similar to modern napalm, a petroleum fuel (modern napalm is made from thickened gasoline or diesel) mixed with a thickening agent.
I wonder if the rather vast archive at the Vatican might contain a more detailed account of how to produce greek fire?
This is where George RR Martin got his inspiration for Wildfire.
As an Englishman I can honestly say that Simon has the most quintessentially English accent
Isn’t that what RP is supposed to be?
British Accent.
@@silentkilla14 Why British? He’s clearly English and not Scottish or Welsh
In the nineties I worked with a guy from London and if he met a customer from London he could tell which area they were from and from the interactions that I saw he never was wrong.
The Greek Fire substrate was photosensitive? Interesting.
That was a roman variant. I find it interesting though.
Napalm burns like that. I bet it was a variation of napalm.
Something I didn’t know I needed but I see it and I want it, thank you Simon
I've always wondered if they also used some form of phosphor...
Douse your gyros in Taco Bell Diablo sauce and ghost peppers. There's your Greek Fire.
Death by scoville.
Most accounts of Greek Fire tell a story where the weapon was somehow better than anything that has come since...
But the reality is that even the act of squirting flame a few meters at the time would be seen as absolute magic to anyone from that time period.
What i am saying here is that Greek Fire wasn't actually that impressive compared to what we have today.
And we can make a weapon that by far exceeds the devastation that Greek Fire wrought on enemies, without using gunpowder or explosive compounds. Simply the benefit of modern chemistry and modern machining can make Greek Fire that can be shot over four times the distance and burn so vividly and hot that not even steel can survive.
And then we can pack that into a bomb casing and drop it from altitude...
5:27 - This quote is from "On the Administration of the Empire". Constantine is instructing his son on what to say if foreigners ask for for some.
Can we all agree that this guy is the narrator for atleast 50% of all youtube videos and channels, lmfao!
Not only the narrator, but he owns the channels too. It's probably part of his bid for total global domination. 😁
All hail Simon the Narrator!
«The fire’s shooting at us!»
Andy Bernard
Is this similar to the "Greek lightning" that strikes when the restaurant owner wants a new kitchen, but also insurance to pay for it?
The Jewish lightning number 1
In Michael Crichton's sci-fi novel Timeline, Professor Edward Johnston is stuck in the past in 14th century Europe, and claims to have knowledge of Greek fire.
This is good Simon!
So squirt guns are an ancient invention, cool. The Romans were kinda like The Simpsons as depicted in South Park when the boys kept trying to do something cool and new, but the Simpsons did it already.
Naphthalene was used in mothballs, now banned in many countries, because of kids eating them.
What? Stupid kids poisoning themselves is the last bastion against devolution we have left!..
I highly doubt any valves and pumps were involved.
Simply ad a little water to the mixture and the steam gives all the pressure needed. A simple wooden plug in the nozzle might keep things from spilling while heating.
Building an airtight preasure vessel that can be opened to refill is impressive enough for the time.
Yout really thing peopels back then were ret@rded are you? the Aeolipile is basically a 1st century BC greek steam engine toy so it had to be quite airtight to work but 11 century later in 10th 11th century AD they can't do it????
Naptha, bitumen, and white phosphorus
White phosphorus was discovered in the 17th century.
I think it was a sort or a petroleum product with a thickening agent. Such mixtures float on water, stick to almoust all surfaces, float and burn on water. Also it's likely that some parts of the story where exagerated by human nature and posibly as a deterrent to enemies. Such material must have been made in big quantities so the raw materials couldn't been rare or the proces to complicated othervise it would be used up faster than it could be produced in case of battles.
So we don't actually know, but for all intents and purposes... we do.
Nowadays you can just throw old damaged lithium batteries.
some type of tree sap mixed with ethanol?
Says it has a composition with "old urine," and I immediately get a Jadore ad with "urine colored" liquid cosmetics and sensual music. I hate it 😂
I like that he said captchka like Dunkey does
0:22 NOT Istanbul?
During my Air Force ROTC summer training years ago cadets thought
Saltpeter was put in our food at meals. 😢
Class action lawsuit!
It is, or was, used as a preservative in certain meats.
@@ABC1701A Saltpeter is sodium nitrate if I remember correctly. Until recently legally required in all prepared meat that doesn't require cooking prior to eating. They now are using sodium erethrobate (not sure I got the spelling right, I just call it sodium reprobate) because the UN in their infinite "wisdom" decided to add sodium nitrate to their no-no list. Problem is that I'm now encountering gastric upset with the new formulations, whereas before I just needed to drink enough water to flush the sodium nitrate. Just another thing the UN has their mind set to ruin.
Was that Randy and the Crusaders, with Street Life? 😂
We can't rule out the possibility of space aliens!
The aliens are using the Shaggy defence
It wasn't me
while effective in the ancient world, fire has limited tactical use on the modern battlefield... even if we had the formula, it would be of historical significance, not martial
We’re only supposed to use fire in a smoke screen manner in modern warfare. Like white phosphorus smoke grenades and shells. Not intended for human targets
@@ZachBurns-gu9zk like I said, limited tactical use
@@ZachBurns-gu9zk And we've seen how some countries observe the ''you're only supposed to use it for '' rules when it comes to modern warfare. Ask Ukraine about the ''you're not supposed to bomb civilian housing, transport, hospitals etc'' and how effective policing of that rule is(n't).
@@ABC1701AI find it extremely amusing how many people, in 2023, STILL try to use Western standards to describe the entire world! Especially when it comes to things like what others are capable of doing in war
Bloody Daven lost on his tractor again.
Also thinking of Rome.
The entire fucking empire were just a bunch of epic pyromaniacs
At this point in time, it seems to be a game of probability.
Until a time traveler steals the original recipe. :D
We don’t need weak Greek fire anymore. We have white phosphorus. Way more deadly. Also not allowed to be used against people anymore cause it’s horrific
Thank you Simon for another great video!!!!❤
That's so Ingvar!
It shouldn't be called 'Molotov cocktail', it should be 'Byzantine cocktail'
Molotov cocktail was invented by the fins during the period leading to the winter war. The Russians were sending them “breadbaskets “ bombs under the guise of humanitarian aid. They were molitov bread baskets. So the fins created the cocktail as kind of a joke to go along with the basket
@@ZachBurns-gu9zk interesting!
Interesting article! Cheers!
Drachinifel did a very good video on this very topic a couple of years ago, too.
I have always thought that one of the ingredients was crude oil that bubbled up from the ground.
My understanding is that is correct.
It's probably for the best that greek fire was lost to history. That's a NASTY weapon!
Did you notice "fear of One" working?
Lol I know Simon is so tired of talking about Greece 😂
And Romans
I'll whip up a batch
The car maker said, I can't stand an Opel 😮
I always thought the Greek FIre was napalm.
Oh my god.... I just had an epiphany.
What if it was never a fire?
What if it just burned?
In greek ir was called egron pyr which literally means liquid fire.
It was not fire. It was corossive acid
Great bed time story
I just watch a video from simon about pepper just before, there is a masterplan there.
always figured it was some mixture of pitch and tree resin. guess no one's figured it out yet :/
Am I salt, Peter?
Sounds like a gasoline/diesel mix that might have some polystyrene or asphalt with some naphtha mixed in. I'm studying chemical science right now and I also fought in Iraq against the precursors of isis. There's so many mixes of compounds we can manufacture and rudimentary shit we can mix together that greek fire is irrelevant in our modern times.
Ancient version of Naphalm.
you know what look like greek fire if you have a spraybottle fill it with olive oil fire it up and spray. greeks knew oil float on water en carry a long way if the stream is right.
watch it be magnesium or lithium powder, some very very fine flammable metal powder mixed with a fuel and whatever constitutes as an oxidizer in those days
Even if we never learn it we have plenty of incendiary weapons that are better.
Sounds like an early version of napalm...
The answer to the click bait title, nobody knows. Of course, he admits that himself at the end of the video. And if you want to know what the old recipes were study history. There are many a historian that know about fire automatic, or automatic fire, to include the recipe.
Sounds Like Napalm 10:20
Im wondering if it was thermite. Thats the only thing that we have now that matches. I bet ot was thermite power
Very carefully?
So its either thermite or napalm?
Apparently the sound is very similar to a blast of wind from Howard Stern's butt crack !!
Sounds like jelly or napalm honestly or early whilly p. Aka white phosphorus
maybe some alcohol
ANCIENT FLAMETHROWER
_Do you feel like a hero yet?_
it kinda sounds like napalm
How old does this urine need to be?
Sarwaths? That is the most perverse pronunciation of swathes I have ever heard. But I still like your channel.
So it's ancient Napalm.
Havent you done like 5 greek fire episodes? Lol
Been subscribed for years and this is my first time hearing about it, so it wasn't a useless repeat, if the subject had been covered before.
Swear its a direct reupload right
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley didnt suggest it was useless. Only that simon does so many stories on so many channels he ends up doing the same thing multiple times. Tho one person said it was a straight upload and that might be if the older video had some issue or they wamted to edit something in/out.
The details in this video is so hot
Byzantine bbq Oh my What a way to go Sleep now in the fire Light up the shisha Caliph don't like it Rock the Casbah
"to inhumane", yeehh cos they really cared about that back then
More discussion of ads and ads and ads and ads and ads and discussion about ads and ads and ads and ads than USA network TV and that is saying something. An expected amount is understandable. Then it became pure greed
AMATERASU!!!!!!
I'm willing to bet that Greek fire is just a variation of napalm. Just a personal theory though..
You have the order EXTREMELY backwards.... if anything, napalm is a variation of Greek Fire
Napalm
Hey Simon, just a heads up….those (new?) glasses REALLY make your ears stick out. Thought you might want to know.
Greek fire is made from these nuts in them guts!!!
❤❤❤❤❤
Greek fire formula, war weapon equivalent of Coca Cola.
But don't forget, it was the Crusaders who were the aggressors, 400 years later if you believe The Narrative.
It's A.D., not "c" "e".