Gaius Paulinus Maximus Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Roman soldiers defending a Middle Eastern garrison from attack nearly 2,000 years ago met the horrors of war in a most unusual place. Inside a cramped tunnel beneath the site's massive front wall, enemy fighters stacked up nearly two dozen dead or dying Romans and set them on fire, using substances that gave off toxic fumes and drove away Roman warriors just outside the tunnel. The attackers, members of Persia's Sasanian culture that held sway over much of the region in and around the Middle East from the third to the seventh centuries, adopted a brutally ingenious method for penetrating the garrison wall.............. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id..._comes_to_light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Neil Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 (edited) Edited January 12, 2009 by Northern Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Paulinus Maximus Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 "In my view, this is the earliest archaeological evidence for the use of chemical warfare..." Sneaky, dastardly Persian swine with their murderous, devilish, cheating ways! "The first use of an incendiary chemical substance at sea by the Byzantines dates from the suppression of a revolt against the Emperor Anastasius I in AD 513." (Wiki) Brave boys, splendid fellows doing their bit to protect the Empire! Am I sensing a bit of bias there Neil??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Neil Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Am I sensing a bit of bias there Neil??? Absolutely! Seriously though, I suspect that in the confines of a tunnel, the ignition of the pitch and sulphur must have had an almost explosive effect, rapidly clearing the tunnel of defenders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 This is a rather indiscriminate use of the weapon dangerous for both sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryaxis Hecatee Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 well you know I doubt very much the claims that this was one of the earliest use of chemical warfare in history. I'm not a great fan of Iran but the articles seems to me to be a "look at the bad iranian who are the first to use chemical weapons" when the chapter 35 and 37 of Aeneas the tactician show it was a method already in use in the 4th century B.C. Of cours Aeneas does not recommand the use of bodies to fuel the fire, but he talks of pitch and sulfur to maintain a burning fire ( and his recipe is even more potent by the way ). Yet despite my view on the "show" part of the announcement I must confess the information is interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingsoc Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 well you know I doubt very much the claims that this was one of the earliest use of chemical warfare in history. I'm not a great fan of Iran but the articles seems to me to be a "look at the bad iranian who are the first to use chemical weapons" when the chapter 35 and 37 of Aeneas the tactician show it was a method already in use in the 4th century B.C. Of cours Aeneas does not recommand the use of bodies to fuel the fire, but he talks of pitch and sulfur to maintain a burning fire ( and his recipe is even more potent by the way ). Yet despite my view on the "show" part of the announcement I must confess the information is interesting. The Aeneas is a fictional story, I very much doubt if Vergilius knew much about the weaponry of the 4th century BC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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