When Aristotle taught that “nature does nothing in vain,” he recognized that people will always search for the meaning and purpose of things. They found many uses for oil, adapting it to the needs and abilities of civilization, and its meaning evolved alongside.
The Secret of Greek Fire
It is also evident that petroleum was actively used in ancient military applications. The invention of “Greek fire” was a genuine military sensation in antiquity. This new type of weapon considerably strengthened the military might of countries possessing the secret of its preparation and military application.
Historians have yet to establish who invented the “napalm of antiquity.” Some believe it was Byzantine alchemists, while others contend that the secret of its preparation was already known in Ancient Greece. Mentions of such an igneous material can also be found in Chinese chronicles.
Evidence of the use of Greek fire appears throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire. In the latter half of the seventh century, the Empire came under attack from a new threat—the Arab Caliphate, a powerful Arab state built on the tenets of the new religion of Islam, with its capital located at Medina. The Arab Caliphate began military actions against the Byzantine Empire, and in 655 Arab and Byzantine fleets met off the coast of Lycia. The imperial fleet, commanded by Emperor Constantine II, outnumbered the Arab fleet, but ultimately lost the battle. Fourteen years later, Arab ships reached the strategic Sea of Marmara, and in 670 they captured the city of Cyzicus on its coast, turning its port into a major base for their navy. At the same time, the Arab land army moved on Chalcedon (modern district of Kadikoy in Istanbul), and a strong detachment took the coastal area, effectively cutting the Byzantine capital of Constantinople off from the sea (and partly from the land as well) for nine years. Reprieve came only during the winter, when the Arabs would withdraw their navy to Cyzicus to protect it from winter storms.
In 672 Arab troops captured the strategic city of Smyrna down the Anatolian coast and substantially increased their naval strength. Then, beginning in 674, their assault on the Empire intensified. There no longer appeared to be any hope; Byzantium could only be saved by a miracle.
And such a miracle occurred. In a fortuitous turn of events, Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatos (652–685) was unexpectedly informed that a certain Kallinikos, a refugee either from Baalbek, Syria, or from Heliopolis, was offering his services in the defense of Constantinople using a previously unknown and formidable weapon. (Incidentally, the name Kallinikos, translated from Greek, means “good victor”) The unusual incendiary compound and a unique device that enabled the compound to be thrown distances that were quite considerable for the time entered the arsenal of the Byzantine navy shortly thereafter. Once equipped with this new weapon, the imperial fleet was ordered to sail to Cyzicus and engage the Arabs.
Upon reaching the Arab fleet, the Byzantine sailors unleashed a furious attack using the unusual devices. The Arab ships were engulfed in flames, and clouds of black smoke filled the sky. The very sea appeared to be on fire. The conflagration lasted over a day, consuming nearly the entire Arab fleet. The frightful material (at the time, the Byzantines called it “liquid fire”) literally turned the Arab warships to ash, and their human losses were enormous. “The Greeks have a fire like lightning from the sky. They sent it at us and completely burned everything in their path, so we could not defeat them,” said one surviving Arab in describing the sea battle with the Byzantines. Thus Greek fire came to play a pivotal role in preserving the empire of “the second Rome.”
A hundred and fifty years after the battle, the Constantinople monk Theophan wrote in his chronicle, based on the reports of historians whose works have unfortunately not survived, that 30,000 men died at Cyzicus on that day. This may have been an exaggeration common for the time, but either way, it is clear that the Arab fleet never fully recovered from the defeat, while the Byzantine Empire continued to survive for nearly another seven centuries.
Modern researchers have repeatedly suggested that the secret of the successful battle application of Greek fire by the Byzantine military lay not only in its composition and the precise proportions of its ingredients, but in the method of its delivery. The ancient inventor Kallinikos likely installed boilers with siphons on the ships, thereby creating an effective means of delivering the incendiary mixture to the target. The jet of liquid flame, forced under pressure from a largely sealed boiler through a siphon tube, surpassed in weight and speed anything that could have been expected from the projectiles of the time. On reaching the target vessel, the fire immediately spread along the decks, making it impossible to fight.
The composition of “Greek fire” and the device for its use in battle were held in strictest secrecy in Byzantium. In his treatise Be Administrando Imperio [On the Governance of the Empire], Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (945–959), mentioned the nations whose ambassadors pestered him with “stupid and unworthy” requests to let them use “liquid fire.” Advising his son how to reject barbarian requests diplomatically, Constantine VII writes: “You can object and refuse in these words: ‘God revealed and taught this through an angel to the very first and great Christian emperor St. Constantine, and this angel gave him a great commandment: This fire must be made only by Christians and only in the city where they rule and nowhere else; and no other people must receive it or be trained in it.’”
In 957, Constantine VII took further measures to ensure Byzantium’s monopoly on the use of this powerful weapon, not only proclaiming the method of its production a state secret, but also ordering a curse to be carved on church altars against anyone who dared to transmit it to foreigners—which in those times was equivalent to issuing a license to kill such transgressors.
For over a century, the Byzantines won many battles using their secret weapon, and it was not until the 12th century that Arab alchemists surmised the secret of Greek fire and used it against the crusaders. The historian Boga-Eddin relates that during the siege of Accons during the Third Crusade (1189–1192), “Petroleum and other materials were cooked in iron pots, and when the mixture turned to fireballs, were thrown at the siege towers of the Christian troops,” which instantly exploded and burned. Jean de Joinville, an adviser to the French King Louis IX (later Saint Louis) and a participant in the Seventh Crusade (1248–1254), saw “liquid fire” in action and was so impressed that he included a description in his Memoirs. According to de Joinville, it was like a lightning-bearing flight of a “winged and long-tailed dragon with a body as thick as a barrel, accompanied by a thunderclap; a burst of flame, which threw back the darkness of night to a great distance.”2
The Eternal Flames of the Absheron Peninsula
The Absheron Peninsula, which juts out into the Caspian Sea near modern-day Baku, Azerbaijan, has also been known for its petroleum since ancient times. The eternal flames that rose from its oil fields never failed to draw the attention of travelers. Thousands of pilgrims streamed to temples located on the peninsula to worship the sacred eternal flames. Historians recount how the Byzantine Emperor Heracles (575–640), while wintering at the mouth of the Kura River 18 miles west of Baku, destroyed the sacred altars, thereby striking a considerable blow against the cult of fire worshipers. However, the altars were soon rebuilt, and fire worshiping emerged anew.
Ancient authors noted that oil was exported from the Absheron Peninsula to Persia as far back as the beginning of the Common Era. Reports of oil production on the peninsula can be found in the manuscripts of many Arab and Persian historians of the Common Era: Ibn Miskawayh (10th cent.), Abu Dulaf (10th cent.), Yaqut al-Hamawi (13th cent.), Hamdullah al-Qazwini (14th cent.).