Greek fire

Gimme, gimme, gimme...

Greek fire, Greek fire, noun from 1788.

It is an incendiary composition used in warfare by the Byzantine Greeks that is said to have burst into flame on wetting.

Well, I am very confused by this.

I have never heard of Greek fire before.

Oh, by the way, The Greek flag, it's showing me, because I have the word Greek in my browser.

In addition to the blue and white stripes, it has the Greek cross in it.

It's kind of like the American flag.

We'll make some money or whatever.

And then, of course, it goes off the rails, which this one immediately goes off the rails with Greek Fire, a.k.a. Napalm, like immediately.

But...

As it progresses, there's a lot of moments where you hit some magical stuff.

And then time going by, alchemy becomes something most linked with aphorism, with war too.

The most infamous example is Feu Grégeois.

It's how to create fire on water.

It's a more epic one.

In many cases, earlier writers have discovered passages which they consider prove the use of firearms and gunpowder.

In reality, these refer to Greek fire and similar compositions which were used as projectiles, being thrown from machines or catapults, and not as propellants.

Gunpowder as a mixture of ingredients may have been known from remote times, as undoubtedly were other simple pyrotechnic compositions, but all evidence goes to show that its use as a propellant was not known until well into the Christian era.

The composition of Greek fire, known in ancient times as naphtha, was a mixture of pitch, resin, and sulphur, with the addition in some cases of crude saltpeter.

It may be considered that in the absence of the latter ingredient the mixture does not constitute a pyrotechnic composition, but from the description of the use of naphtha in early writings it appears at least likely that it was generally present.

The fire was either enclosed in hollow stones or iron vessels and thrown from a catapult, or sometimes filled into the end of arrows and assisted to propel them forward or sustain their flight.

Philostratus, 17 to 250 AD, writing of the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great, BC 326, relates that the inhabitants of a town on the river Hephestus, bees, defended themselves by means of thunder and lightning which darted upon their besiegers.

This has been considered as evidence of the use of firearms, but is more probably the first reference to Greek fire.