Units of History - Byzantine Flamethrowers and Grenadiers DOCUMENTARY

A history documentary on the Byzantine Flamethrower and Grenadier units! Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: try.magellantv.... Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch "Pyros: Painting with Fire" which covers the fascinating behind the scenes world of Fire Works Displays: www.magellantv...
This animated documentary is part of our Units of History series covering elements of the Byzantine Army and more. In this episode we turn to the more experimental forces of their roster which include both grenadier and flamethrower units.
The documentary begins with the broad trajectory of fire weapons. This began as soon as mankind first learned to tame this powerful force of nature. The earliest steps involved finding natural resources which could be used as incendiary devices. Products such as animal fats, oil, pitch, and other materials were discovered which could help early militaries make specific items flammable. At first this meant torches which could hand deliver fire to their desired target but soon enough fire projectiles were being created in the form of arrows, bolts, and exploding pots.
The most common use of fire was in siege warfare where it could be used by both the attacker and defender against fixed targets. This occurred across the ancient world. However one of the most notable developments would be during the Peloponnesian War when the Spartan forces created the Boeotian Flamethrower to uproot a garrison of Athenians. It was a simple device which supposedly used a bellows to direct a gust of air into a pot of burning substance which would then spew forth. For the time being though such devices remained quite niche.
The eventual discovery and exploitation of Naphtha would change the game by introducing a highly flammable liquid. This would be mixed with various other substances to increasingly deadly effect, ultimately culminating in the invention of Greek Fire. The Byzantines quickly took control of the new material, shrouded it in secrecy, and experimented with ways on how to turn it into a weapon. This would lead to the famous Byzantine Fire Ships which are widely attested to. However in this episode we look at the land application of the Byzantine Grenadier and Byzantine Flamethrower Units of History.
In previous episodes we have covered the Varangian Guards, the Roman Cataphracts, and many more fascinating troop types. What Units of History should we cover next?
Credits
Research = Invicta
Script = Invicta
Narration = Guy Michaels
Editing = Penta Limited
Sources and Suggest Reading:
“Greek Fire” by Linda Alchin
“Byzantine authors: literary activities and preoccupations” by John Nesbitt
“Praecepta Militaria” by Nicephorus II Phocas
“Tactica” by Emperor Leo VI the Wise
“Travels of Marco Polo, Chapter IV”
#Units
#Byzantine
#Documentary

[@InvictaHistory]

This video comes as a suggestion from one of our Patrons, who have excellent taste! What Units of History should we cover next?

[@ManiusCuriusDenatus]

Palatini or Comitatenses of the late Roman Army.

[@potatomasherr]

Top Tier

[@shadowkeep2949]

Very well done Bravo

[@user-evil_historian]

Armenian cavalry/Armenian archers Mamluks Jaguar warriors/Eagle Warriors Cossacks Janissary Ghilman Rajput Noker Gallowglass Genoese crossbowmen

[@dariusghodsi2570]

Byzantines survived by adopting Persian style military.

[@ecurewitz]

Looks like the Byzantines really did have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!

[@5ynth3ticNZ]

Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three.

[@GetRidOfCivilAssetForfeiture]

1, 2, 5! 3, sir 3!

[@press8404]

noice.

[@walpolescrew]

‘Five is right out!’

[@GetRidOfCivilAssetForfeiture]

Thou shalt not count to two unless thou proceedeth to three. Thou shall not count or four …

[@MartyBones]

Just imagine going to battle and seeing a Byzantine soldier shooting fire out of a weird device. Terrifying, both back then and in the current era lol

[@marcus4046]

POV your a Rus mercanary and you see the greeks casting wierd magic. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJebZ5-Cm6qZY9E

[@mate5571]

*roman soldier

[@visegradi]

Emperor Calcius Maximus on his waay to burn the enemies of the empire

[@barbiquearea]

I would be even more terrified as a soldier on a ship that's engaging the Byzantine navy. At least on a battlefield you have options to run away. But on a floating vessel, if your ship catches fire, your only hopes of survival is jumping overboard and praying you don't drown.

[@marcus4046]

@@barbiquearea god forbid your already on fire......

[@patrykkulpok6908]

Imagine that someone is making a partially historical movie about Byzantium during a zombie epidemic (for example the Justinian plague) and soldiers use Greek fire and grenades during the fighting.

[@joeywheelerii9136]

That would be awesome. Let's give those Greekoids some shekels and make it happen. It could be like that Netflix show in 1600s Korea.

[@Feanor1169]

Someone did write a book about a zombie outbreak during the Arab Siege of 717-718. Never read it but I remember it from the History of Byzantium podcast.

[@weirdofromhalo]

Pretty sure World War Z touches on Romans using flamthrowers.

[@CHMichael]

Great idea. zombie stories need fresh scenarios. - let the Greek fight zombies - part of the Persian army ( 300 ) (Just one more example )

[@patrickuysim7144]

Dude! Phalanx wall vs rushing zombie scene 👌

[@OGDeepStroke]

People fail to realize; 39 years after the Romans were officially done; Columbus landed in the “New World”. Really puts events into perspective.

[@voievod9260]

Wow

[@anxietyplague2395]

Thanks

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Black Crow, really?

[@gilpaubelid3780]

Byzantines were Greeks and hellenized populations with Roman citizenship. In other words, when we're saying that the Byzantines were Romans we mean that they were politically Romans. If by "Romans" you mean the ancient Romans, they weren't even part of the empire during the byzantine period.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

@@gilpaubelid3780 you saying that if i didn't know about it, even if my id name has the name Konstantinopoli. I know all of that and more, do you even know that the Nicean Empire viewed itself as more Greek than Roman for example?

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Man, its things like this and other ancient inventions far ahead of their time that make me wonder how much knowledge we've truly lost about the past- what other incredible inventions far exceeding their contemporary time period have we lost to the sands of time I wonder? Others that come to mind are the Antikythera device, Archimedes' Screw, that rudimentary steam engine (which wasnt used for anything I can recall) and the ancient greek crossbows. (lybos I think it was called?)

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

Archimedes screws are widely used in the modern day so I wouldn't call them lost, also the other 3 have all been successfully reconstructed (and in the case of the Antikythera device the original still exists)

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

@@amiscellaneoushuman3516 Well Lost in the sense that for a long period of time after they were made- that they were lost to history so to speak, sure we eventually created steam engines... a couple thousand years later- thats not what I meant. I meant that after these inventions first came about- they never caught on across the majority of civilization and were lost to time until rediscovered hundreds or thousands of years later.

[@benemuel3916]

@@WelcomeToDERPLAND The problem with the steam engines was that they were Charcoal powered and it would have been... Inefficent, compared to the later beam engines. It would have been an Atmospheric where the steam creation causes the piston to be pushed down which is really only good for removing water from mines, moving it into canals, and supplementing water wheels. And since they didn't have water wheel powered industry, the engine would not have been able to help, and evolve to replace that. They had the concept of it essentially, but none of the knowledge that would make it able to evolve into something that was actually useful and practical, since none of their mines went below the water table as well. And they didn't need to do so for ore where it was a risk, unlike the late 1700s.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

@@benemuel3916 Of course, I never thought they were applied or used for anything, but its a shame such things were lost to history & time, imagine if they weren't just abandoned or forgotten about, and instead subsequent scholars and philosophers continued to try to innovate the idea until eventually creating something more analogous to more modern steam engines (or by industrial revolution standards anyways)- It would have catapulted the people of the era forward in technological capabilities, and have changed history forever in the process. I also recall ancient pots which scientists are still battled about which are claimed to be 'ancient batteries' since they contain an electric charge within them, and we still have absolutely no idea what they were ever used for, Its stuff like that which really gets my noggin' joggin and feeds my love for history.

[@georgethompson1460]

@@WelcomeToDERPLAND I don't think they had the metallurgy or maths to get useful steam engines.

[@rostdreadnorramus4936]

I hope Invicta starts doing more videos about the Byzantines. Did a really good job with the video about the Varangian Guard, Byzantine Court and now this.

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

I think that it would help if we just started calling them Romans. "Byzantines" is a revisionist term of central European historians. Calling them Romans again as they called themselves would draw more attention to the surviving half of the Roman Empire that lasted until 1453 A.D.

[@chaosspork]

@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ I agree with this. I would much prefer if they called them Romans or Eastern Romans.

[@tha_MVPLAYA]

As a former byzantine paratrooper i can confirm this is true Damn that's a ton of likes

[@visegradi]

As a former Byzantine general i can indeed confirm you were a Paratrooper of the 172nd Imperial Paratrooper Legion and have been in battles that indeed have seen the use of the flamethrowers as well as experimental machine guns

[@Baddy187]

@@visegradi I am a representative of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. I would like to have a talk with you, general.

[@mimodesu7689]

As a Former Empire 404th Imperial Cannon Legion gunner i can say for certain flamethrowers is very effective on scaring the enemy.

[@miquelr2353]

Paratrooper are an airunit no?

[@dinos9607]

@@miquelr2353 Yes. The ones who jump from a plane. He was just being sarcastic.

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

It’d be interesting what The Eastern Romans would do with firearms and what units they’d form had they survived.

[@joeywheelerii9136]

Yes I want a alternative history with 1700s byzantium with pre manzikert borders. That would be cool

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

the Byzantines did have firearms in their later years

[@beaglemusiclabs]

I recall that at the end in 1453, the Byzantines had some handheld firearms as well as small cannon.

[@gilpaubelid3780]

You know that Greeks have survived, right?

[@barbiquearea]

Imagine had the monks who smuggled silkworm eggs from China also brought back black powder and Justinian saw its potential as a devastating weapon.

[@vitorpereira9515]

If not for the stupid Byzantine intrigue, they would have reconquered the Mediterranean. They were their worst enemy.

[@Jg-jg6jb]

You could say the same about Rome as a whole. they were more busy fighting themselves than the real enemy.

[@vitorpereira9515]

@@Jg-jg6jb You said it.

[@Vasilefs_Terranorum]

Endless civil wars is a Roman tradition after all.

[@tedluis943]

Exactly, they were their worst enemies, specially After the Battle of Mantzikert. Their soldiers died because of too much civil wars between themselves

[@jjhh320]

If they ever do a movie that has the Byzantines at war, I fully expect to see the "flamethrower guy in a war movie" trope, complete with his inevitable fate and that of the guys next to him.

[@michaelweston409]

Done right this would be amazing.

[@kirbyis4ever]

An establishing shot of him firing from around a corner, unseen, while some poor bastards run around on fire. Followed by a full shot to show: Hey its an ancient flamethrower! A bit of flamethrower use to show off, and then he explodes through some clever means.

[@RexoryByzaboo]

Yeah, I hope there will be better Eastern Roman portrayals than the average Ramadan TV show.

[@freakrx2349]

I remember using Greek fire during a siege in Medieval II: total war Crusades campaign. That weapon is just brutal. Turning the enemy army’s own armor into an oven and cooking them alive….I can see why such a weapon hasn’t been recreated since.

[@terrenusvitae]

Interstingly (or not) the greek armour 'Klivanion' actually means oven. Apparently you didnt always need the help of greek fire to roast in them.

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

one word, napalm

[@georgethompson1460]

The arabs recreated greek fire and deployed it against crusaders in the 5th and 6th crusades.

[@thplatoon-pg8vi]

Napalm.

[@Propulus]

The Vietnamese would like a word.

[@d1a9m9i1lare]

I think we (modern humans) should stem our disbelief in the ability of our ancestors or ancients creating magnificent technology for war. If Egyptians could create the pyramids for the sake of honoring their dead then anything could have been possible. After all there weren't that many distractions like we have today

[@slipstreamxr3763]

Also, Stonehenge in Britain is now thought by scholars to be an ancient multipurpose event center. It was used many different rituals by neolithic British people, but it's most important use was apparently as a funerary center.

[@firestorm1088]

The oldest form of hubris is the belief that the time you are living in is better than any previous period.

[@rursus8354]

Everything then were closely kept secrets, and then this kind of knowledge was essentially lost when the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Today we are high-technological not because we know how to do advanced stuff, but because we have paid scientists whose main task is to produce and publish research reports that anyone can read.

[@tombkings6279]

Then we should vote for Dictator ships if we want to achieve the the impossible.

[@painxsavior7723]

@@slipstreamxr3763 are you really comparing Britain stonehenge with the pyramids?

[@rosswebster7877]

I was always hoping to see the Byzantine flamethrower make an appearance on the Vikings TV series.

[@jozzieokes3422]

Next season perhaps

[@jeremy1860]

It's moments like this that always get me to wonder how history might have gone if the Byzantines had managed to hold on until the present day 😊

[@michaelweston409]

It's a miracle they hung on for that long. Think about this. When the Genoan Republic lost its territories in Greece along with the Arabs successfully conquering Constantinople ,all global trade between Europe & Asia in 1476 was severed. It only took 18 years until a bold young up start like Christopher Colombus came along to say screw this & found his own way to trade with Asia, crossing the vast Atlantic Ocean. Changing history as we know it.

[@AverageUsernames]

They would reached the future era lol

[@Miodrag.Vukomanovic]

@@AverageUsernames Hey we gave you Nikola Tesla !

[@Basil-HD]

It would be something like modern Greece but with the economy of France and the named would pe republic of Rhomania.

[@rileyernst9086]

"I love the smell of naphtha in the morning. It smells... like victory." Some Byzantine soldier.

[@thatguythere8737]

If the Byzantine could have stopped killing each other maybe there could have survied.

[@youvebeengreeked]

Lol imagine the Medieval people having modern weapons like flamethrowers or something, haha kinda ridiculous but that’d be co - *wait WTF??* ☦️

[@hungrymusicwolf]

Yeah, people back then were also pretty smart even if they didn't have all the accumulated knowledge we do.

[@trolldrool]

The records make it sound like the grenades and flamethrowers weren't implemented for their damage potential, but their demoralizing effect. In contrast to how modern movies and games often portray them as capable of burning dozens of soldiers in seconds. At least in the records shown in this video, it seems their main destructive purpose was against wooden constructs like siege towers approaching the city walls.

[@1810jeff]

To be fair a flamethrower can very easily burn dozens of soldiers just for the fact that it's pretty hard to fight back when you're engulfed in fire. So if you have a group of soldiers together some guy with a flamethrower could easily incapacitate all of them if he got the jump on them.

[@imoutofideas8515]

I think most would run by seeing one instead of standing in close formation against a firespewing madman. If close you would be oven potato and if you spread out or fled the charge would have been ineffective

[@drewinsur7321]

on medieval 2 total war with the stainless steel mod, i loved to just have a big line of cheap spearmen, lock the enemy in combat, go around and toast the shit out of everybody friendly or foe lmao. good to know more about the history of the firethrowers and greek fire.

[@barbiquearea]

That is basically the strategy I use when playing as Skaven. Throw a bunch of clanrats into the meatgrinder to keep the enemy busy, then have my warp flamethrowers to burn them all.

[@Tom-fv9jf]

@@barbiquearea Eww, warhammer..

[@comradekenobi6908]

@@Tom-fv9jf haram

[@ronkledonkanusmoncher564]

@@Tom-fv9jf more like yesses, Warhammerses….

[@Tom-fv9jf]

@@ronkledonkanusmoncher564 Toddler..

[@belialord]

First the new Obi-Wan trailer and now this, I can almost hear Anakin screaming from the flames 🔥

[@tyranitararmaldo]

"I HATE YOU!"

[@dickrichard5579]

It’s over Byzantine! I have the high ground ! (Throws grenade)

[@belialord]

@@dickrichard5579 😂

[@nunyabiznes33]

@@dickrichard5579 I imagine him saying that perched on the Theodosian wall.

[@drinkwater559]

Love learning about Basil and his Byzantine burny bois

[@EmporerAaron]

The moment I saw the title I instantly thought of the units in Assassins Creed: Revelations.

[@thunderchild8548]

No matter how crazy the idea seems to us we have to remember that the peoples of the past or just like nature they don't have the most perfect version of something but it works and that's enough and seeing the flamethrower would be a close-range weapon back then if you got half of the range of a spear you're doing pretty good

[@PyrusFlameborn]

Your spear might be twice as long as the flamethrower's range but are you going within half a spear-length of a guy shooting fire at you?

[@michaelweston409]

Exactly so we have to assume the people of the time used the same brain as we have to solve the age old challenge of fire based weapons.

[@augustuslunasol10thapostle]

@@michaelweston409 I mean the Byzantines literally had guns only the uninformed would be in disbelief

[@dprayogo00]

Brother, Get the flamer..., . . . . . THE HEAVY FLAMER

[@BillyTzENDURO]

Awesome video! interesting fact, Cheirosiphona can be translated as "hand funnel"

[@johntheknight3062]

I think we drastically underestimate our ancestor. I guess after some 1000 years we will also be seen as there primitive tribes using their lame electronics and people will wonder how the hell we even built so much wonders withc such limited technology.

[@marvinm8343]

"Smell that? You smell that? Greek Fire, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of Greek Fire in the morning. You know, one time we had a citadel bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' Turk body. The smell, you know that naptha smell? The whole citadel. Smelled like... victory." -Strategos Billos Killgorios, Anatolian campaign, c. 1290

[@AkkaAlbatros]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_Philanthropenos you know it could be possible. especially with that guy. the texts fromt he era said the turkish slaves costed less than sheep. then the black plague depopulated the empire and the newly reconquered provinces

[@jimboramba]

Flamethrowers undoubtedly one of the scariest weapons

[@Dimi_kozy]

As a Greek Im Proud that this was a part of our history Greek Fire Go BRRRRRRRRRR🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@theelysian1172]

Byzantine grenades, fire ships, Baghdad batteries... the ancient world was way more advanced than we think... absolutely fascinating

[@nenenindonu]

The 2nd Umayyad siege of Constantinople was a campaign in which Greek Fire played a decisive role besides the Bulgar reinforcement 🔥

[@dinos9607]

Sorry what? Callinicus was Syrian? At the time he was born, presumably in Heliopolis where he lived and worked, Syria was still part of the Eastern Roman Empire and boasted a population of more than a million ethnic Greeks - i.e. 1 in 10 was an ethnic Greek. People just forget about the massive emigration of Greeks from mainland Greece and western Minor Asian (and even South Italy to some extent) to Syria and Egypt where the big money were in the service of Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires. Read the babylonian chronicle of the war between Seleucids and Ptolemeys - the very local Middle Easterners put themselves in the background and the mass of Greeks in the foreground battling against each other. Also, the fact that he had a Greek name at a time the Hellenistic fashion was waning in the Middle East is a strong indication of an ethnic Greek and not of a man with Syrian ancestry. He was not just a chemist but first and foremost an architect, a profession traditionally held by Greeks when even later Arabs used mostly Greek architects rather than any of their own Middle Eastern ones for their greater works. Not to mention the fact that the man could had made easier and better money selling his technology to the Arabs rather than going, literally as a refugee, to Constantinople and working there. If name and profession are not enough to classify him as Greek then even much more so living in Syria does not classify him as a local Syrian. People just forget how many millions of Greeks lived in Syria and Egypt at the time and are too quick to ascribe ethnic origins.

[@peterwall8191]

*Dinos* The want it forgotten. It pains them how few things, they actually invented themselves.

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

Callinicus was of Assyrian descent, though. Greek was spoken in the eastern parts of the Roman world. Even before that, since Alexander the Great. Anybody who wanted to advance his career would have to understand Greek or Latin. Callinikus was of Syrian descent, but spoke Greek. and yes, he was a Roman by nationality.

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

@@peterwall8191 Since he was a Syrian man who was a Roman national, he was not a Greek.

[@dinos9607]

@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ I do not remember having seen an explicity mention of Callinicus being ethnicallly of "Assyrian descend". Only that he came from the province of Syria which was then overrun by Arabs. At the time Syria hosted a sizeable population of Greeks in excess of 1 million. Callinicus is of course a Greek name. On the basis of this information it is safer to bet on a Greek ancestry than on a Syrian. I keep seeing this effort of ascribing "ethnicity" on Eastern Roman citizens on the basis of the name of their regions which is woefully wrong. We talk of an era where millions of Greeks lived throughout the provinces of the Empire.

[@morgan97475]

I'm aware of Greek Fire being used aboard Roman (Byzantine) ships. But I was unaware that they had a hand-held device to employ the Fire. Very cool!

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

[@Psiros]

Thought that thumbnail was something from Warhammer 40K.

[@TheManCaveYTChannel]

Love these eastern Roman videos! Keep it up! The most overlooked portion of Roman history!

[@user-sc5iv2rp2t]

Anna Komnena and Choniates use Byzantion to describe both the empire and the city (as the old Romans did with Rome), Roman emperor to describe the emperor and interchangeably Greek or Roman to describe the inhabitants(they preferred the Roman when speaking politically and Greek when talking with a cultural color) . No Eastern Rome in any source.

[@klol3369]

@@user-sc5iv2rp2t 1st the empire wasn't solely composed of Greeks until later in it's history after losing most it's territory, so most of byzantine history isn't Greek, even the pinnacle of it's history the primary official language was Latin with a native Latin speaking emperor, Justinian, ruling over an empire full of Latin speaking Romans from southern Spain to Illyria, also it wasn't Greeks ruling over other people's either as many emperor's weren't even greek, they called their language romaic and called themselves rhomios and not Greek(hellenes) because Greek meant pagan, and rhomios wasn't synonymous with Greek either as it was attributed to all citizens too. Also byzantine is unhistorical because Constantinople or nova Roma as it was called when it was founded is a different city to Byzantium, founded on the same spot as Byzantium but by that time Byzantium didn't exist because the Romans destroyed it for siding on the wrong side of a civil war, If Russians destroy Paris and build new Moscow on the ashes you wouldn't call it Paris. On another note east Roman is completely fine, they actually called themselves rhomios and their land rhomania, however we use English and Romans is the translation, however their empire was indeed the eastern part of the empire when it was split and the east and west were governed by different emperor's.

[@nihil_hd1598]

@@user-sc5iv2rp2t u talk shit.they called themself east Romans and the wort Byzantine was used after the fall of Byzantion

[@m.a.i7324]

@@klol3369 lol byzantines were greeks not latin. although they were romanized but roman culture itself come from greeks culture the etruscans. Both roman and byzatines practices different branch of christianity. Roman ( roman catholic), Byzantines ( eastern orthodox).

[@ajax1475]

@@m.a.i7324 There is no such thing as Byzantine, they were Roman

[@RexGalilae]

Romans in the 1st century threw javelins Romans in the 5th century threw darts Romans in the 10th century threw fire

[@tylerellis9097]

Both of the former did indeed continued to be used thou.

[@shadowkeep2949]

What a great video, I had never heard of flame weapons like this in ancient times that weren’t fiction

[@barbiquearea]

Gives me Battle of Blackwater Bay flashbacks.

[@glitterboy2098]

the interesting bit is that the basic technology of the naptha bomb and thrower lasted through the middle ages, with the byzantines containing to use them in small numbers, and the Arab Empires adopted their own versions during their conflicts with the byzantines. with some references to them in use even in the later crusades, though always in fairly small numbers. they seem to have died out as early gunpowder weaponry made its way into western armies.

[@sergioacevedo2254]

These are medieval times, by the way.

[@AkkaAlbatros]

@@barbiquearea that battle an empitation of the sieges of constantinople from the arabs. the byzantine fleet used liquid fire and burned the arab fleets every time.

[@johnlumsden9102]

I love the way the writing of this channel builds a fantastical image that is to be expected when talking about these things then pulls you back to the reality of what may have actually been.

[@lonestarwolfentertainment7184]

Now I’m imagining these devices being used in Game Of Thrones but with Wildfire.

[@obiwancoolidge1828]

Insert Fortunate Son

[@AfaqueAhmed_]

Military now :- Nah , the flamethrowers seem deadly and more harmful to use than to the enemy . Military then :- Haha fire go brrrrrr!

[@Dragons_Armory]

Incidentally the Chinese does as well during the Song dynasty. Would love a coverage of that as well haha

[@Crazyasian123456]

Don't forget about the rudimentary rocket battery,

[@barbiquearea]

Yep their flamethrowers were a bit more advanced, at least in terms of mechanism. Though they didn't come in gun size variations but were a platform based weapon that needs to be wheeled around.

[@Le-eu4bf]

@@barbiquearea imagine a flame chariot or a flame wagon

[@primalforlorn]

Too bad they were facing the mongol of all opponent. They would have survived till this day as a scientific, cultural and economical powerhouse otherwise.

[@meduseld6610]

@@primalforlorn Jog on Chinaboo, there is no way of knowing that. It takes much for than technological progress for an advancement in civilisation like we've seen in the modern day

[@vangelisskia214]

"With the collapse of the empire in the west, its eastern counterpart became, in reality, an entirely new and independent state, at once Greek by language and Roman in name: 'A Greek Roman empire'." Roderick Beaton, "The Greeks: a global history", New York: Basic books 2021, pp. 212

[@tylerellis9097]

See this is what I mean lmao

[@vangelisskia214]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJjEo2mDhLN2gdU "Θά 'ρθεις σαν αστραπή" - "Lightning strikes"

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

@@tylerellis9097 What do you expect lol. He is a fanatic Greek nationalistt who cherry picks his sources to make it look like eastern Rome belongs to the Greeks.

[@SkyFly19853]

Another wonderful episode!

[@Mr.PepeSilvia]

Great timing! I was just re-reading about the Maniakes rebellion and the Kievan Rus loss to Greek fire. Thanks 👍

[@luckyassassin1]

Greek fire, god i loved this unit in total war. Really sucks how they didn't really make byzantium strong in medieval 2 total war. Your endgame unit is the varangian guards, while everyone else gets gunpowder. They really designed byzantium to die off when in reality they were prey versatile and adaptable and innovative.

[@freedombro6502]

Western hatred of Eastern Rome explains all this , they are sad they couldn't maintain romes greatness

[@luckyassassin1]

@@freedombro6502 yeah but if you read what constantinople was like, they did a damn fine job of maintaining some high level of greatness, but Turkish invasion drained them and they weren't able to stand alone forever

[@tylerellis9097]

@@freedombro6502 Not really this is the same company that made the Eastern Roman Empire in Attila op. The older total war games just didn’t try to be historically accurate that much. Egypt in Rome total war is really bad lol

[@luckyassassin1]

@@tylerellis9097 don't even bring them up, the way they were portrayed was an insult at best.

[@michaelg.1786]

Regardless, the Invicta flamethrower unit animation is all the proof I need on just how bad ass this weapon COULD have been!

[@BenAC75]

Please keep doing videos on the Byzantine Empire. Your videos have rejuvenated my interest in the Byzantine Empire.

[@husky0098]

When you're an Arab spearman chilling with your formation and see a Byzantine guy with a copper can coming towards you: oh no

[@Mornathel]

For anyone more curious about fire arrows, Lindybeige did an extensive video on those.

[@Mrkabrat]

*Athenians refusing to abandon the wooden fort* "Acastus, get the flogovólo. The *heavy* flogovólo"

[@davidjarkeld2333]

12:22 There is a lot of debate if those vessels shown are infact granades at all. They have very thick walls, that are highly fired almost like stoneware and are very difficult if not almost impossible to break just by throwing them. later you get versions with decorative coloured glazed, which again is unlikely to be used on a single shot weapon.

[@Khofax]

From what I see I feel like that flamethrower contraption was probably more of a hose that just sprayed the unlit liquid next just throw a torch on the enemy and they get lit ablaze

[@ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣΚΙΤΣΟΣ-φ1μ]

kalinikos is not an arab name it is a greek one. so no he was not "syrian"

[@InvictaHistory]

plenty of Greeks in Syria for centuries

[@112steinway]

What's interesting is that after Hercules completes his Twelve Labors he saves a woman named Deianira from a centaur who is trying to assault her by killing the centaur with arrows that had been poisoned with Hydra venom. The centaur then tricks Deianira into thinking that if she coats Hercules' clothing with his spilled blood it will keep Hercules from loving another woman. In reality, the blood soaked garment burns Hercules so badly that he commits suicide and is taken up to Olympus to sit with the gods. I bring this up because it sounds remarkably similar to the account of coating arms and armor with burning chemicals mentioned above. Really makes you wonder how the Ancients thought of super weapons and their impact on humanity.

[@PALWolfOS]

It certainly kept Hercules from loving another woman - by killing him before his heart could falter

[@MrJakobMovies]

I knew about byzantine/greek fire before but hearing more about it is blowing my mind, its so interesting.

[@morte2504]

Maximus, get the flamenus throwerus

[@herbertgearing1702]

Beware of Greeks baring flame throwers.

[@paprskomet]

...except they would not called themselves "greeks".

[@gilpaubelid3780]

@@paprskomet Multiple sources where they were calling themselves Greeks have survived, so what you're claiming isn't correct.

[@herbertgearing1702]

@@paprskomet don't correct a joke. I think I would know, in my Greek fire-thrower operating days they called me "the severely charred death of the Saracens" well after the accident. In those days they knew how to deal with the "Actually" guy! Damn Debbie downer fun-police! Grammar Nazi! Correcting jokes and checking spelling - you should be ashamed. Go ruin something deserving next time, like the Colbert show. Lol

[@paprskomet]

​@@gilpaubelid3780 your "multiply of sources" are dramatic exceptions compared to giant see of them talking about themselves as about Romans.Guess what is more important from that?

[@herbertgearing1702]

@@paprskomet I don't wish to have to resort to facts and logic but you left me no choice. There were many Romans in the early years of the Byzantine empire and they did carry over many of the Roman systems and traditions, however Greeks were a majority of the population and eventually they were a majority of the government. The entire area of Asian minor was traditionally Greek as was 3/4 of the land controlled by byzantines at the time in question. They called it Greek fire for a reason, like the Greek orthodox church which has its origins in Constantinople. Read a few books and admit you are just a contrarian..

[@xyAKMxy]

Wait, wasn't it already established that fire arrows actually did not exist and that it was only a movie/videogame trope? Edit: I mean like not even attempted to be used back in antiquity.

[@Stelios_The_Greek]

Imagine your the opponent fighting with normal shield and spear and suddenly you see someone with a freaking flamethrower 😂 nope Im not gonna fight that

[@ΘΕΟΦΑΝΩΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ]

0:04 That's a gruesome skip of the Hellenistic heritage in the Byzantine army.

[@yaboyed5779]

Finally, someone talking about this.👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pls could you talk about the Greek fire ships next😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@InvictaHistory]

in the works

[@oon5542]

Sad to see Constantinople still under Turkish occupation.

[@oon5542]

@Misericordia thyr barbarians

[@a1n9t8o9]

Jaguar/Eagle warriors as someone else suggested would be amazing.

[@truckwarrior5944]

Yes!

[@nunyabiznes33]

No movement penalty in jungles is great

[@theromanorder]

Can you do a video on Asian troops or Australia aboriginals or the maori of New Zealand please

[@magnumrepia537]

👍👍👍✌️👍👍👍💯

[@buffdude4281]

You should cover Empress Theodora’s life! Reference: The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora.

[@moiserares6974]

That's cannot be PG13 lmao

[@paul5475]

The sad part of the modern history, is we always say that the Romans are Byzantine. It's frustrating and sad.

[@Amen-Magi]

In the film, 300 Achaemenids also used incendiary grenades

[@--novus-ordo-secrolum-un--8820]

Indeed the akkadians were quite advanced

[@MaximusAugustusOrthodox]

Our beloved Roman Empire❤☦

[@stlouisix3]

Their war techniques were so advanced. No wonder they remained powerful for so long👍🏻👏🏻☝🏻🙌🏻👌🏻🤞🏻🤴🏻

[@jaysonbonita9865]

Is greek fire the inspiration for game of thrones wildfire?

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

I really loved it, the ingeniousity of Greco-Roman innovation. Unfortunately we know so few about it

[@DUPPIXCONQUERER]

Just made the connection that the word for oil in Modern Persian/Farsi is "naft" / نفت, which came from that Old Persian word "naphtha"!

[@ericcloud1023]

thank you for posting this awesome documentary here for absolutely free. your whole team deserves a medal

[@cjvipinosa3328]

"by God's grace duck comrades!" - King Konstantinos Paleologos while throwing the nade

[@bentilley747]

I have been waiting for Byzantine siphōn to be a topic for so long.

[@Manwu5]

All Hail the absolute powerhouse of Defensive Civs! If not the 4th crusade did not betray us it would never fall!

[@deirdregibbons5609]

The animations in this segment are amazing!

[@yohanneslong1970]

It shouldn't be surprising considering this is the same empire that previously employ very deadly Legionaries that able to fight from Britain to Persia.

[@RenegadeRanga]

Most ancient warfare is really interesting but this was epic.

[@andersonreid6845]

"This what happens when you bring a gun to a sword fight" byzantine using chemicals compounds weapons

[@auronavdiu8664]

As a former byzantine paratrooper I can confirm this is true we used it against the japanese in pacific

[@DanCooper404]

Thank you for your service.

[@auronavdiu8664]

@@DanCooper404 I'm glad that I served the army but the liutenant strategikos was very rude he didn't give us enough ammunition to fight the fascist ( seljuks and the japanese ) but overall the 82nd airborne division was the coolest of the entire units of United states of eastern Rome

[@themiddleman1929]

Medieval 2 Byzantine Greek fire

[@1917Albertso]

This channel is so awsome, love all your content !

[@Number1Irishlad]

15:05 well, clearly the Byzantines had access to Flame spewing flamethrowers. OBVIOUSLY. why else would the artist depict it in SUCH detail??

[@Glenmoto12]

I need more of your videos! Love every single one of them.

[@scarlettredkhans2009]

Since i had an idea to create a nation with modern technology and weapons if i suddenly time travel back to ancient times 2 years ago.. Things are getting weird.

[@Stejers]

Can we have the episode of naval gladiatory combats soon?

[@InvictaHistory]

It's done already and should go live this weekend!

[@Stejers]

@@InvictaHistory yay!

[@buffdude4281]

Thank you Invicta for enabling my addiction of Roman History. Your team and Kings and Generals are the best in the business!

[@jasonsantos3037]

I guess grenade and flameflowers are way older that we fought

[@cudanmang_theog]

Its just flammable liquid grenade kind of crude oil that burns but doesnt not burst like regular modern grenade

[@marshallhewitt2749]

Glad to see this history opening up to the people. Thanks guys!

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

The terms "Graikos" and "Hellene" were often rejected by the eastern Romans of the medieval Roman Empire. Graikos and Hellene were deemed as insulting to their Roman roots. Roman was their preferred ethnonym 99.99% of the time. There are literally tens of thousands of references to themselves as ethnic Romans in the so called "byzantine" sources. Less than a few dozen references to ethnic Greeks. They were Romans, period.

[@RossHbn]

Now this will be an interesting topic!

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

After the death of Basil II the Byzantine military went into a neglected state. And then the absolute horrible sack of Constantinople in the fourth crusade. So much was lost. So I don't doubt the ideas of the Byzantines having such devices. But it takes a political will to see these things bear fruit or have longevity. Well done! Enjoyed that one!

[@MrMimamoto]

As always a great video

[@Alex-we8fk]

I would like to see videos on the Roman Evocati, Praetorians, i live roman history

[@3452te]

Awe yes greek fire (aka Roman Fire or Liquid Fire) the most ultimate weapon to be ever used by the eastern Roman army.

[@paprskomet]

Glad to finally encounter on someove being aware "greek fire" is not as they themselves were calling it.

[@3452te]

@@paprskomet you're welcome my friend. As i know they have called it Roman Fire & Liquid Fire instrad.

[@paprskomet]

@@3452te They had very many terms for it.Liquid fire and "Sea fire" being the most often used among the.At any case modernly it is known solely under name Crusaders gave to it.

[@3452te]

@@paprskomet sea fire i think may have been used in the Byzantine Navy, whereas the Eastern Roman Army used the term Liquid Fire.

[@terrenusvitae]

This is a good video, but I believe you are mistaking a cheiromangana, which is a small one man traction trebuchet type device, with a cheirosiphona, which was the flamethrower.