Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World

Rating:
Summary: Good . . .but not great
Review: I purchased this book mainly due to an interest in classical society, and Robert Fagles' blurb on the front. There is a lot of interseting information here and it is wortha read if you are interested in the subject. However as others have pointed out, much of the information is repeated over and over. Additionally the line between hard history, informed opinion, mythological interpretation and plain speculation is very blurred in the writing. I have no problem wiht thoose things coexisting in the same work, however it should be clearly evident what is being discussed, and authors should refrain from using their own speculation to support a conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: Ancient Modern Weapons
Review: If war is one of the constants of human behavior (and sadly, it seems to be), it is unsurprising that we try to do all we can to make warfare as efficient and decisive as possible. We know in our hearts, though, that there are limits. The cruelties of war cannot be extended infinitely. In the ancient world, there was the supposition of a code of honor. Brave warriors were expected to fight to their fullest capacity and die if they must. There were classes of weapons, though, even in ancient times that made bravery and skill futile. The ancients had to confront germ warfare, chemical weapons, and weapons of mass destruction; no, these are not worries solely to our own times. In _Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World_, (Overlook Duckworth) Adrienne Mayor reviews the terrifying weapons that the ancients came up with, the ambivalence about their use, and the similarities to our own times.

Mayor's review is of both historic fact and legend, and she says that the mythic and historical evidence is here presented for the first time. It may have been that historians assumed that ancient people knew too little science to make what the military now calls "biochem" weapons. They may also have assumed that ancient warriors, if they could, refrained from use of those weapons because of a warrior's code of conduct which forbade such horrors. Mayor has found hundreds of examples to the contrary. She has plunged not only into Greek documents, but Roman, Muslim, Chinese, and Indian to show that some authors wrote disapprovingly of biochem weapons, but that also all these cultures used them, so that the issue of what was and was not acceptable was always clouded.

When we think of biological weapons, we think of germs, and the ancients used germs, but they also used such devices as snakes, wasps, and venomous frogs. Naptha, pitch, or quicklime were used as liquid incendiaries long before the seventh century CE when a "petroleum consultant" named Kallinikos invented a horrifying cannon that pumped burning naptha (Greek fire) upon the enemy. Fleeing armies would leave a repast of food laced with hellebore and mandrake, or even the honey produced by bees that had collected nectar from poisonous rhododendrons. Stink bombs and smokes were used, according to an Islamic manuscript, for "...causing damage to forts and castles and horrifying the enemy." Mayor gives pages and pages of examples, many of which are particularly unpleasant reading, but which will permanently silence anyone who wants to argue about the particular brutality of modern war. She usefully draws modern parallels, such as the similarity of Greek Fire and napalm, for instance, or shows how the Pentagon has sponsored research in how to use insects as "war-fighting technologies". There are pages here to show that for millennia soldiers have been dealing the terror that biochemical weapons inspire, and their unintended consequences ("collateral damage" and "blowback" are not new). This is an informative and useful book, but given the topic, and our inability through millennia to rise above such measures, a sad one as well.

Rating:
Summary: Ancient Modern Weapons
Review: If war is one of the constants of human behavior (and sadly, it seems to be), it is unsurprising that we try to do all we can to make warfare as efficient and decisive as possible. We know in our hearts, though, that there are limits. The cruelties of war cannot be extended infinitely. In the ancient world, there was the supposition of a code of honor. Brave warriors were expected to fight to their fullest capacity and die if they must. There were classes of weapons, though, even in ancient times that made bravery and skill futile. The ancients had to confront germ warfare, chemical weapons, and weapons of mass destruction; no, these are not worries solely to our own times. In _Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World_, (Overlook Duckworth) Adrienne Mayor reviews the terrifying weapons that the ancients came up with, the ambivalence about their use, and the similarities to our own times.

Mayor's review is of both historic fact and legend, and she says that the mythic and historical evidence is here presented for the first time. It may have been that historians assumed that ancient people knew too little science to make what the military now calls "biochem" weapons. They may also have assumed that ancient warriors, if they could, refrained from use of those weapons because of a warrior's code of conduct which forbade such horrors. Mayor has found hundreds of examples to the contrary. She has plunged not only into Greek documents, but Roman, Muslim, Chinese, and Indian to show that some authors wrote disapprovingly of biochem weapons, but that also all these cultures used them, so that the issue of what was and was not acceptable was always clouded.

When we think of biological weapons, we think of germs, and the ancients used germs, but they also used such devices as snakes, wasps, and venomous frogs. Naptha, pitch, or quicklime were used as liquid incendiaries long before the seventh century CE when a "petroleum consultant" named Kallinikos invented a horrifying cannon that pumped burning naptha (Greek fire) upon the enemy. Fleeing armies would leave a repast of food laced with hellebore and mandrake, or even the honey produced by bees that had collected nectar from poisonous rhododendrons. Stink bombs and smokes were used, according to an Islamic manuscript, for "...causing damage to forts and castles and horrifying the enemy." Mayor gives pages and pages of examples, many of which are particularly unpleasant reading, but which will permanently silence anyone who wants to argue about the particular brutality of modern war. She usefully draws modern parallels, such as the similarity of Greek Fire and napalm, for instance, or shows how the Pentagon has sponsored research in how to use insects as "war-fighting technologies". There are pages here to show that for millennia soldiers have been dealing the terror that biochemical weapons inspire, and their unintended consequences ("collateral damage" and "blowback" are not new). This is an informative and useful book, but given the topic, and our inability through millennia to rise above such measures, a sad one as well.

Rating:
Summary: A Catalog of Ancient Nasties
Review: Mayor's "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs" purports to be an historical survey of biological and chemical warfare in ancient times. Certainly we knew a lot about naptha (Greek Fire), a much-feared incendiary weapon, and I think poison arrows were fairly well known too, but her research has uncovered several other strange and disgusting ways of killing people, such as pouring molten pitch, distilling snake venom, cultivating diseases and, yes, bundling venomous snakes or scorpions up and lobbing the resultant "bomb" in the enemy's direction. The book is a pretty good compilation of these various methods. Nevertheless it is a very, very dry compendium; it also gets ahead of itself. Is it really fair to say that elephants, as used by Hannibal, were a "biological" weapon - if so, then every cavalry battalion has been a weapon of mass destruction. Nonetheless a very interesting work, if somewhat disappointing in presentation.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Informative
Review: Mayor's book will change your ideas about the history of biological weapons. She shows how the concept of biochemical weapons goes back to ancient Greek mythology and the time of Homer. Hercules invented the first bioweapon by dunking his arrows in the venom of the Hydra. And those arrows were used in the legendary Trojan War, turning the tide in favor of the Greeks. Homer's hero Odysseus also used bioweapons in the form of toxic plants.

The first chapter is on poison weapons in myth and Mayor returns to myth in the epilogue to show that the ancient Greeks understood the ethical dilemmas surrounding such arms. But the other chapters describe real historical examples of various types of biologicial weapons by the Greeks, Scythians, Hittites, Romans, Egyptians, Persians, Africans, Asians, Indians, and Chinese, over 3000 years of historical accounts by contemporary writers.

Each chapter considers a different type of bio or chemical weapon, from poisoned arrows and poisoning wells, spreading disease, leaving out food and wine tainted with toxins, to deploying stinging insects and dangerous animals, and creating choking gases and napalm-like incendiary weapons. All these early inventions and tactics have analogues in modern weapons and even in the most advanced experimental weaponry being devised by military scientists at the Pentagon.

My only complaint: there could have been more on actual battles in India and China using biological and chemial weaponry.

This book will surprise and inform you--you'll never think of biological warfare in the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: She Knows The Research and Classic Territory
Review: Mayor's talent for making ancient history readable, exciting, provocative, current and relevant shows up -- as it did in her earlier Fossil Hunting book -- with addition of shocking tales of "all's fair in war" coverage of grotesque inhumanities. She knows the territory: on site as well as in literature, museums, and libraries and continues to push the discipline forward in fresher looks at people as protaganists in antiquity. We are inevitably reminded about what conflict and conquest mean today by her descriptions of creative cruelties devised for politics and warfare over the centuries. Well documented, readably presented,strikingly illustrated, GREEK FIRE engagingly brought me newer and persuasive insights into old myths. Reader/academic in Oregon

Rating:
Summary: Chock full of facts, but wild with conclusions
Review: No where else have I seen such accounts of ancient warfare. Her descriptions are entertaining and the facts interesting. In the hands of a good writer this subject matter would be wonderful, but alas, the book is poorly written. The author defines chemical and biological warfare so unlike our contemporary concepts that it is difficult overcome while reading. Many of her conclusions and comparisons to modern day warfare are dubious and at times I wondered if the book were a bit tainted with religious bigotry.

Rating:
Summary: Ground-Breaking and Provocative
Review: The ancient Greeks and Romans were not just wise but toxic; they were as much at home with venom as with virtue; and their heroes fought with germs as well as arms. Thse are the conclusions of this ground-breaking new book. Fascinating and provocative, Greek Fire will make you rethink the legacy of the ancient world.

Rating:
Summary: Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and C
Review: This book had such good potential to inform the mass readership. Instead it ended up being what it always was an academic tome that a few people would be interested in. Instead of really discussing any one subject, Ms. Mayor jumped around the entire universe of weapons of mass destruction. In the end, all she said was that weapons of mass destruction have been around since antiquity. It would have been better for Ms. Mayor to devote a chapter on the methods by which the Mongols changed the course of history with their introduction of the plague in warfare, or a chapter on the impact Greek fire on the ancient world. She merely devoted a few paragraphs to such truly interesting things.

Rating:
Summary: Wll worth your time and money!
Review: This book presents one of the most comprehensive and intersting descriptions on the history and development of chemical and biological weapons I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It is well researched and the source material is identified for further study. The author has a knack for presenting a wealth of information in a most useful format and interesting manner. Even more than the description and history of the weapons is the insight into human nature and the conduct of war. No one who reads this book will doubt the imagination and ingenuity of ancient warriors, nor have any illusions as to the prospects of such weapons in the hands of contemporary armies and governments, not to mention terrorists. I began reading the book as a text to increase my knowledge of the subject but finished with a deeper insight and appreciation for the historical precedents. For anyone interested in this subject, it is well worth your time and money.