Customer Reviews

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Classical folklorist Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs is an intriguing, if over-reaching look into the ancient antecedents of chemical and biological warfare. Wide-ranging and well-supported by history, literature and archaeology, it is an excellent reminder that certain seemingly recent ideas and practices are not as modern as they seem. The book is an engaging read for students of classical or military history. However, it lacks focus and suffers from the author's background as a folklorist.

Mayor begins not with the historical fact, but with mythology. The first chapter focuses on the poison arrows of the Greek demigod Herakles. Certainly the chapter is well-spent: ancient Greek myth is ancient Greek religion, and discussing the myths of Herakles and his arrows reveals a great deal of the moral attitude the Greeks had towards such weapons. However, it is also here that Mayor has her first stumble by categorizing poison arrows as "biological," when strictly speaking the use of such toxins should be chemical warfare. Indeed, Mayor herself makes the same comparison later on in the book.

This might seem to be a minor issue, but such distinctions are important, and it also underlines what Mayor's lack of familiarity with modern security studies. Later in the book, when discussing ancient and modern moral attitudes towards biological warfare, she contrasts the ancient attitude that the defenders of a city under siege are permitted any action with modern treaties dealing with chemical and biological warfare and their clauses permitting research for defensive purposes. Either she is overly vague in making the comparison, or she does not understand the treaties in question: these clause do not allow signatories to legitimately use chemical weapons under any circumstances. Instead, they allow for defensive research, ostensibly to develop countermeasures against these forms of attack. Such clauses are much abused, but their moral and legal standing is still very different from Mayor's description of ancient attitudes on the matter of defensive weapons use. The comparison is like apples and oranges.

Mayor returns to these mythological roots of chemical and biological warfare too often for what should be a book about what historical fact, not mythological fiction. The mythological references are interesting and have value in a moral context, but Mayor's folklorist background leads her to sprinkle her text with too much of this material.

Furthermore, the inclusion of unconventional animals into the study is questionable. The US military classifies trained animals as "biological weapons systems," but this is not biological warfare in the same sense that germ warfare would be. The sole instance that bears a distinct resemblance to modern techniques is the scorpion bomb - the very name conjures an image of a cluster bomb delivering stinging poisonous fragments onto the enemy.

These difficulties aside, there is value in gathering the many examples of ancient uses of poisons, germs and incendiaries into a single study. Greek Fire accomplishes that task very well. The incendiaries are the most obvious of the classical antecedents. The comparison between napalm and phosphorus with greek fire, hot sand and fire arrows is obvious.

However, the most fascinating (and perhaps disturbing) part of the book deals with the various poisons used for arrows, especially in the case of the Scythians. In many respects, a cloud of arrows that could produce horrible, lethal wounds would produce the same kind of terror in the enemy as a cloud of chemical nerve toxins would today. The detailed description of how some of these poisons were made in ancient times is certainly horrific enough.

If there were such a thing as an amusing tale of poisons, then this book has them by including the stories of the fabled "mad honey" that felled both Xenophon's and Pompey's soldiers. Both encountered the naturally toxic honey native to the region of Pontus, the product of the concentrated toxins in the rhododendron plants of the region. While the idea of hallucinogenic honey sounds funny, even modest amounts of the honey cause powerful hallucinations and painful death. Twice in ancient history, the local population remained silent about the deadly honeycombs, waiting for the hungry soldiers to forage their own demise in the rhododendron forests.

While the first recorded catapulting of plague victims' bodies into a besieged city is by the Mongols, Mayor reveals that the ancients also made primitive use of germ warfare. While unaware of the germ origins of disease, the ancients were naturally familiar with some methods by which diseases were transmitted and put these to use in early examples of biological warfare. For example, the ancients knew enough to put carcasses in wells and to try to maneuver enemies into unhealthy marshes and bogs, although once again Mayor over-reaches on the matter and tries to compare fighting on unfavorable ground to putting the enemy in a place where they are likely to be infected with disease. The former is sound, conventional operational practice; the latter is biological warfare.

Even worse, Mayor blunders historically and describes the possibility that certain temples kept infectious materials sealed away for use on invaders. However, the problem with this is that it is speculation. The examples all carry the stamp of being a moral device in the classical style of historical storytelling. For example, Mayor puts much weight on the story of Roman soldiers releasing the plague of 165-80 AD by breaking into a temple of Apollo and releasing the contents of golden chest. The tale is an obvious fable, directing moral criticism ad divine retribution upon the Romans for wrongfully sacking that city.

A folklorist would naturally be interested in such material. However, a historian would distinguish such stories for what they are and not include them in a study on the historical antecedents of chemical and biological warfare. In the same fashion, a security studies specialist would not misunderstand modern treaties or put maneuvering an enemy to fight on bad terrain with making them camp where they would they would catch malaria. The book would have been excellent as a study of folklore on ancient biological and chemical warfare. However, as a serious history on the subject it is badly muddled by blunders and material that should never have been included. The book does have value as a collection of sources on the subject, and is certainly an entertaining read much of the time, but fails as a meaningful history text on an interesting subject.

After reading this book, one tends to feel doubly uncomfortable for the warriors of ancient times. Not only did they need to dodge flying arrows and swinging swords, but they had to contend with the possibility that a mere scratch from either could be fatal, as could the consumption of local water, wine, food, etc. The author's knowledge of the field stands out as she describes the uses of these "unconventional" weapons in various engagements and the agonizing effects on their unfortunate victims. In addition, the author often compares the uses of ancient biological and chemical weapons to the current uses of modern equivalents. In my view, this is an excellent, authoritative and informative book that is written clearly and in a very pleasant and engaging style, i.e., a real page-turner that is difficult to put down.

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.

This delightful read explores the origins of what today we now know as biological warfare. Many books on BW/BT begin their summaries with the 14th century Tatars, but Mayor convincingly traces the use of poisons/chemicals and infectious diseases back to Greek myths and ancient battles/seiges. Those who argue that "moral repugnace" has historically limited use of BW/BT agents are proved wrong. It appears that even the classical Greeks and othe near-contemporaneous societies used venoms, toxins, plant alkaloids, and naturally occurring (and later synthezied) chemicals to defeat their enemies.

For those interested in the history of military tactics, weaponry, toxicology, and biowarfare this books adds many news heuristics to consider. (Despite the title, there is very little space devoted to Greek fire. Readers might look to Alfred Crosby's "Throwing Fire" for a more complete discussion on this subject.)

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

An outstanding, detailed, and well-researched book about chemical and biological weapons since the dawn of time (literally : neolithic combatants tossed beehives into adversaries' caves!). An engaging and illuminating read for historians, military arts afficianados, and general readers.

If you enjoy reading and learning about the ancient world, this study of classical warfare is truly one to put on your to-read list. The author draws upon actual ancient wars as well as mythological battles of heroes like Heracles to bring to life the belligerent nature of our ancient ancestors.

Adrienne Mayor's book is the definitive work concerning ancient chemical and biological warfare. No library or knowledge of ancient warfare is complete without it. The book is topical in our current age as well as possessing a fascination all its own. The scholarship is sound and rendered enjoyable for everyone. I highly recommend Greek Fire for general and professional reading.

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.

Adrienne Mayor has breathed new life into ancient history by examining the evidence for biological and chemical warfare over two thousand years ago. There's a lot of material there, much of it gleaned from evidence found in classical mythology and Homer's epics. Mayor's dedication to arcane research makes her conclusions about the use of infectious disease, poisonous reptiles and insects, and primitive but effective chemical weaponry comprehensible and convincing. Obviously, warfare in the ancient world was even dirtier, smellier, and nastier than it is today. Mayor also draws some interesting parallels between chemical warfare in ancient times and more recently, with some amazing new material. (The British actually used gas in Iraq before Saddam did!!)

My only regret about this book is that it is limited pretty strictly to the classical or ancient world, finishing up with a brief look at the Mongols' use of plague stricken bodies as projectiles against a city they were besieging in the 1300s. There is obviously plenty of material for a sequel, which I hope Mayor will eventually provide.