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Hello,
I consulted the search function, but there seems to be a kind of void on this subject.
What do we know about Roman (and Greek) incendiary, aquatic and poison warfare? What kind of weapons did the ancients have and how did they use them at sieges and in the field?
Any references to primary and secondary sources are very welcomed.
Regards
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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How's this?
A.Mayor, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World, [amazon]158567348X[/amazon]
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Start with this book:
Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World ISBN: 158567348X
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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Woah- deja vu  hock:
See FABRICA ROMANORVM Recreations in the Marketplace for custom helmets, armour, swords and more!
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Wheeler, Everett L. (1997): Why the Romans can´t defeat the Parthians: Julius Africanus and the Strategy of Magic, in: Roman Frontier Studies 1997, pp. 575-9.
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Please try "Greek fire" in this forum and the Greek history forum.
Kinnd regards
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A.Dawson, “Hannibal and Chemical Warfareâ€
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Avete!
Roman fire-arrow heads have been found, made from 3 short lengths of iron rod that are joined at the tip and socket, but swell apart in the middle to make a little "cage" for burning material. I remember seeing drawings of these in one of David Simm's articles in JRMES, and saw a photo of an original recently but can't remember where...
There's a wonderful story of a city (Greek?) being beseiged by the Romans, who were tunnelling under the walls. The defenders dug a counter-mine, broke into the Roman tunnel, and chased them out with the smoke from burning feathers! They used a big crock with a hole in the bottom and a perforated lid, filled it with feathers, shoveled in some hot coals, the stuck a bellows in the bottom hole and started pumping. Chemical warfare! I'd have left in a hurry, too.
Anyone got a smiley with a gas mask? Valete,
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
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Do you have by chance a source at hand for that tunnel action?
I am also looking for ways how such fighting in mines was undertaken.
So far I have found references to the use of long spears and even small scorpios for tunnel action. But is there some evidence for the use of some sort of poison gas?
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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Stefan, the city Matthew's talking about is Ambracia, besieged by the Romans in 189 BC (Polybius 21.27-29; Livy 38.4-7). There is no evidence for a poison gas as such rather than just the suffocating effect of the burning feathers. Ambracia is a particularly good underground battle where small hand-held catapults were used, and the location of the Romans' tunnel was detected in the classic fashion of digging a trench inside the walls and hanging up bronze plates to watch for vibrations (as recommended by Aeneas Tacticus if I recall correctly).
There was of course a spectacular underground battle at Dura Europos - on which see Simon James' recent book.
Kate
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And (again, if memory serves), the fire arrow Matthew mentioned with the 'basket' for incendiary material was from Dura. Unfortunately my copy of James is at work but it was originally published in an article by him in Saalburg Jahrbucher (sorry, can't do umlauts) 1983.
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Kate, please, could you post the exact Greek/Latin quote by Polybius and/or Livy where they mention the use of hand-held catapults at the Ambracia siege?
Many thanks! 
Aitor
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
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No hand-held catapults at Ambracia after all, sorry! Must have been a 'senior moment'!!!; there might conceivably be something in one of the manuals about small catapults but a hard-disk search (of my computer, not my brain), has revealed only hand-held catapults being used in Arrian's hippica gymnasia (Tactica 43.1).
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Sorry, Kate 
But there is no reason to believe that Arrian's μηχανή from Τεχνη Τακτικη was hand-held catapult.
P.S. Yes, I've read Duncan's "Auxiliary Artillery Revisited" and I disagree with him on the matter.
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1) Incendiary pila from Å mihel, Slovenia
![[Image: incendiary.gif]](http://www.xlegio.ru/ildar/incendiary.gif)
From Jana Horvat, Roman Republican weapons from Å mihel in Slovenia, JRMES 8, 1997, p. 111, fig. 7.
2) Incendiary catapult bolt-head from Dura-Europos
![[Image: dura-firebolthead.gif]](http://www.xlegio.ru/ildar/dura-firebolthead.gif)
From Simon James, The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Final Report VII: The Arms and Armour, and other Military Equipment, London, 2004, p. 219, fig. 130.
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