Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs

This was a reread for me. This is an eye-opening and often shocking account of the use of biological and chemical weapons by the ancient people of Greece, Italy, India, and the Near East. To quote Mayor, "Although it is tempting to imagine an ancient era innocent of biochemical weaponry, in fact this Pandora's box of horrors was opened thousands of years ago."

There are accounts in Greek myths (Hercules, Philoctetes) of the use of poison, though the ancient Greek heroes were supposedly too noble to resort to such things. However, that did not stop Athena from suggesting poison arrows as a way to dispose of Penelope's unwanted suitors. Ironically, Odysseus was killed with a poisoned spear wielded by his son Telegonus. Black hellebore (Christmas rose) was used to poison arrows and water supplies. Of course, it helped to have an antidote since it was quite easy to accidentally poison oneself in the process.

The water supply for the town of Kirrha was supposedly poisoned with hellebore. Though there are various accounts of how this was accomplished, the result was the same - the destruction of the populace of Kirrha. Around 150 CE, Pausanias visited the area and wrote, "The plains around Kirrha are completely barren, and people there will not plant trees because the land is still under a curse and trees will not grow there." Harming noncombatants was supposedly against ancient Greek beliefs of "fair war," but Mayor states, "during sieges of cities, the entire population was considered the enemy."

Ancient Indians used similar tactics in their wars. In "Arthashastra" by Kautilya, there are actual recipes for poisonous mixtures to use on the enemy. These would cause blindness, disease, insanity or death. There was a special smoke to destroy "all animal life as far as it is carried off by the wind." Obviously, it's a form of poison gas.

There are also ancient accounts of plague being spread by arrows and various containers. When the Chaldeans sacked and burned Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, they are said to have opened copper vessels, which they assumed contained treasure. Instead, they were attacked by a plague. During the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE by the future Roman emperor Titus, the second temple was destroyed. Once again, invaders broke open jars they assumed held treasure. Instead, Titus's reign saw "one of the worst outbreaks of plague ever known."

There's also the fascinating story of Colchis, the homeland of the infamous Medea. Greek soldiers unwisely feasted on Colchian honey and soon began acting like intoxicated madmen. [a:Xenophon|14805|Xenophon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224374051p2/14805.jpg] found his troops spread around on the ground as if they were under a spell. They were totally incapacitated and some of them even died. The survivors could not stand for three or four days. The culprit? Naturally toxic honey, which was produced by bees from the nectar of the beautiful, but poisonous rhododendron. The powerful neurotoxin has no effect on bees, but people are a different matter. In very tiny doses, it is used as a tonic or mild intoxicant. It is still used today in a glass of milk as a pick-me-up, believe it or not, known as deli bal or miel fou.

Another novel odd weapon is the use of insects such as bees and hornets. There are accounts in the Bible of their use. For example, in Joshua, hornets were used to drive away the Amorites. In Nigeria, the Tiv people kept bees in large horns, which also contained a toxic powder. The powder may have been used to calm the bees and make them safer to use. During battle, the bees would be released towards the enemy. The Romans used catapults to launch hornets' nests at the enemy. This was a tactic that was still being used centuries later by the Germans in the Thirty Years' War and by Ethiopians against Italian invaders in the 1930s.

Of course, fire was also used as a weapon. Writing around 360 BCE, Aeneas the Tactician detailed how to supplement fires with chemicals. He recommended pouring pitch down on the enemy or their siege weapons, following by hemp and sulphur, which would stick to the coating of pitch. Then the pitch and sulphur mix was set afire. The Phoenicians used fire ships against enemy vessels. They would coat a ship with flammable mixtures, set the ship on fire, and send it towards the enemy with great effect. They also used a mixture of sand and tiny bits of metal, which they heated until it glowed red hot and then catapulted at the enemy. The sandy metal mix "sifted down under the soldiers' breastplates and seared their skin with the intense heat, inflicting unavoidable pain."

Mayor concludes soberly, "Once created, toxic weapons take on a life of their own, resistent to destruction and threatening harm over generations. Tons of still-active chemical weapons from World Wars I and II lurk in long-forgotten dumping areas, releasing toxins and posing grave risks to unwitting finders." She compares them to the plague demons in the jars in the temple in Jerusalem and the golden casket in Babylon. Amazingly, during excavations of the historic fort at the Presidio in San Francisco, archeologists discovered glass vials of still-toxic mustard gas that was buried by the US military during World War II, 60 years earlier. How are we to dispose of still deadly chemical and nuclear weapons?

This is the only second time I have read this book and it was definitely not easy. The subject is sobering, incredibly sad and terrifying. Thousands of years ago people were using horrific weapons against each other. Things have not changed. This is still going on.

"One can only hope that a deeper understanding of toxic warfare's mythic origins and earliest historic realities might help divert the drive to transform all nature into a deadly arsenal into the search for better ways to heal. Then Appian's sorrowful words about war, 'They left nothing untried that was within the compass of human energy,' could refer to human ingenuity striving to turn nature's forces to good."