Greek fire

[Zilcho]

I'm creating a boat and I would like to have a big thing that could launch fire. I'm pretty sure they didn't exist so it would purely be fantasy but I'm not sure what it would look like. If anyone has any suggestions or pictures I would greatly appreciate it.

[Shroffy123]

Great idea, can't wait to see it. However, Greek Fire is a real thing. It was invented by the Roman Empire (incorrectly referred to as the Byzantine Empire). The fire would be used in naval battles. The thing that made Greek Fire so unique, is that it would continue to burn even on the surface of water. Greek Fire is one of the primary reasons the Roman Empire (Constantinople) was able to sustain itself for so long - particularly with the many invasions by the Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Crusaders, etc.

The method for creating Greek Fire has been lost to history. Nonetheless, I digress. I've attached a link with a picture of Greek Fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg

[natesroom]

Just search the MOC in the last few pages i'm sure i saw one that had greek fire being used... I'll see if i can find it

Heres one but not the one i was thinking about

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68070&st=0&p=1246314&hl=greek&fromsearch=1entry1246314

Edited April 5, 2012 by natesroom

[Balthasar]

I've recently build one for my ship, which is linked above by Natesroom. It's easy to find pictures of real greek fire, if you use google. I based my design on the following picture:

which turned out to be:

Another lego example is here, from Mikey for the GoH:

Good luck! I wonder what you'll come up with.

[JackJonespaw]

All of these look right for what Zilcho is talking about. I would just build a slightly larger than the Pirate cannon and add some fire.

[Rook]

Yeah they did Greek fire on Myth Busters (American TV Show). It was pretty cool. Basically put flammable oil based mixture in container. Put under pressure using a bellows system like a blacksmith’s, point stream towards enemy and light it up! Basically flame thrower technology from the Iron Age.

[Tria]

Great idea, can't wait to see it. However, Greek Fire is a real thing. It was invented by the Roman Empire (incorrectly referred to as the Byzantine Empire). The fire would be used in naval battles. The thing that made Greek Fire so unique, is that it would continue to burn even on the surface of water. Greek Fire is one of the primary reasons the Roman Empire (Constantinople) was able to sustain itself for so long - particularly with the many invasions by the Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Crusaders, etc.

The method for creating Greek Fire has been lost to history. Nonetheless, I digress. I've attached a link with a picture of Greek Fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg

Due to the fact, that I have learnt and gived soooooo many exams in school about greek fire and her origins (originally is called: "ygro pyr" which means liquid fire.) I must add these about "greek fire" to made proud my teachers who continuously told me to learn this stuff "because its useful knowledge and you ll never know where you are going to need it!"

The Roman Empire was divided into two Empires the West Roman Empire and the East Roman Empire. The East Roman Empire was the heir of the east lands of the Roman Empire and has as capital Constantinople (founded around 330 A.D. named by his founder Konstantinos, who was the last Roman Emperor and the first Emperor of East Roman Empire. Due to the fact that the area, where Constantinople is located, was named Byzantium, the new Empire was now called "Romania" or "Byzantine Empire". The greek fire was invented around three hundred years after the foundation of the Byzantine Empire (around 600A.D.) and by that time was referred mostly in the whole world as the Byzantine Empire. Typically Byzantine Empire exists from also around 600A.D.) So, thats why we say that "greek fire" was invented by the Byzantine Empire.

here is the link in greek: http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A5%CE%B3%CF%81%CF%8C_%CF%80%CF%85%CF%81

The recipe was top top top secret, since it was the nuclear weapon of the time.

The Emperor with the leader of the Church wanted to convince the people that this was a gift from the Gods in order to protect the Gods blessed Byzantine Empire and the by the grace of God Emperor (theocracy) and the temple of Agia Sofia (of course).

Finally "greek fire" is not greek, since Byzantine Empire wasnt a greek empire, but a multinational empire (all the citizens were equal no matter their nationality), which has Orthodox Cristianism as the main religion and the greek language as a official language, which was the most common language of that time in these regions, like english today. (How could a so difficult language to be so popular and widespread I really cannot understand, despite being Greek...)

Dont want to be a nerd-spamer, but I think that you may find these info interesting!