Dimascus steel lost to time4/11/2023 ![]() ![]() Of the three, petroleum seems to be the most likely candidate, as gunpowder was not readily available in Asia Minor until the 14th century, and sulfur lacked the destructive power described by Arab observers. ![]() No recipe has survived, but historians speculate that it may have contained petroleum, sulfur, or gunpowder. The Umayyad Caliphate met its destruction at the hands of a new military invention known as Greek fire, Roman fire, liquid fire, or sea fire, among many other names. Once ignited, it could not be extinguished, and after the entire fleet was ablaze, even the sea was ablaze. ![]() At first the Muslims were not worried Fire was often used in naval warfare and could be easily extinguished with cloth, dirt or water. When the Muslim fleet of the Umayyad Caliphate attempted to lay siege to the Byzantine city of Constantinople in 674, their ships were engulfed in flames. Hand-siphon or portable flame-thrower depicting Greek fire Codex Vaticanus Graecus, (credit: Wikipedia) Greek Fire: Flames That Do Not Extinguish His work is not chronological, but a testament to the ingenuity and scientific ability of their respective civilizations. Although many of the inventors mentioned in this article were actually considered geniuses, they cannot and should not be isolated from their surroundings. Typically, any difficulty in recreating them stems from a lack of original instruction, rather than an inability to understand the invention.Įqually wrong is the notion that ancient civilizations stumbled upon these technologies by accident, or that they were designed by specific geniuses that were not representative of their day and age. While many ancient super technologies – from Roman concrete to Damascus steel – were once lost, they have since been rebuilt by current researchers. It is sometimes said that these inventions rival or surpass modern science. Archaeological excavations around the world show that ancient civilizations sometimes developed inventions that were decades if not centuries ahead of their time. However, this is not necessarily the case. We like to think of technological innovation as a gradual, steady and fairly linear process. ![]()
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