← Explore on the interactive map

Byzantine Greek Fire

Type Object Region Byzantine Empire Time 801–900

Greek fire was a Byzantine liquid incendiary used from about the late 7th century to the 14th century; its formula was a state secret and is now lost.

Timeline

  1. c. 801–820Golden Horn shipyards, Constantinople · ConstantinopleThe empire installed bronze siphons on the prows of fast warships (dromons). Greek fire is traditionally credited to the engineer Callinicus, who came from Heliopolis in Syria in the 7th century (recorded around 672); the formula was kept as a state secret, and specific production details are not detailed in the histories.
  2. c. 821–850Aegean Sea · Aegean SeaIn the 9th century Byzantine flame-throwing warships repeatedly engaged Abbasid, Cretan Saracen, and Aghlabid fleets in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Crete at this time (from 824) was Arab-held and not a base of the imperial navy.
  3. c. 870–900Constantinople · ConstantinopleLeo VI's Tactics (c. 895–908) wrote siphon use and secrecy into a military manual. During the Rus siege of Constantinople in 860, contemporary documents such as Patriarch Photius's sermons do not mention Greek fire; the famous case against the Rus is 941 (beyond this entry's 9th-century window).

Sources