What do you know about weapons from 50 B.C. to the 470s A.D.? Do you have any favorite weapons from this time period? If you have a story set during 50 B.C. to the 470s A.D., what weapons do you have in your story?

Do you have any questions about weapons from 50 B.C. to the 470s A.D. that someone on the forum might be able to answer?

Well, I know they had spears, and swords and slings!

There's a lot of change in weapons between 50 B.C. and the 470s A.D.

Yes, it seems like there would be. What kind of changes?

I'm not actually sure. I'm not very well versed in that period.

And...*starts getting speculative again* There was a lot of technology lost with the fall of the Roman Empire so things could have gotten pretty advanced and we just don't know about it. Lots of possibilities for creative license there.

Definitely!

Realistically, it's hard to say whether or not any significantly advanced weaponry was lost. But in fiction, it certainly leaves the door open for speculation.

I've always been interested in the changing metals over the years.

Yes, that's a neat subject.

The secret of Greek fire, for instance, has been lost to us.

What is the Greek Fire, McKinnon? I've never heard of it.

Oh it was really nasty stuff used by I believe the Byzantine Empire. It could burn on water, so they used it to destroy opposing navies.

Greek Fire was said to have been invented by a Syrian Engineer, Callinicus, a refugee from Maalbek, in the seventh century (673 AD). The "liquid fire" was hurled on the ships of the empires enemies from siphons and was said to burst into flame on contact. It was reputed to be inextinguishable and burned on water, which caused a panic and dread among the enemies of the Byzantine Empire. Its introduction into warfare was comparable in its demoralizing influence to the introduction of nuclear weapons in our time.

The secret behind the Greek fire was handed down from one emperor to the next for centuries. Rumors about its composition include such chemicals as liquid petroleum, naphtha, burning pitch, sulphur, resin, quicklime and bitumen, along with some other "secret ingredient". The exact composition, however, remains unknown to scholars today, lost with the Empire when it crumbled.

Very fascinating stuff!

Indeed.

Yikes! That stuff sounds scary!

Thanks for the info, Airi and McKinnon!

A calf as red as the sunset bursts in, toppling weapons right and left. Catch him!

I've been doing research on slings and they are surprisingly powerful weapons. As far as I can tell, they were unmatched in power until the English longbow.

Wow! I didn't know they were that powerful! That is amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)

Yep! Wikiepdia says their range was above 1300 feet, which in ancient times was better than a bow.

That is a distance... David didn't even break a sweat.

No, he really didn't. I watched a youtube video testing a short sling and Roman sling bullet with a ballistic gel cube and it was brutal. The thing (in different tests) went several inches deep into the ballistic gel, punched through plywood, got wedged into multiple layers of plywood, and generally caused a significant amount of damage.

I'm surprised Goliath survived the first strike at all.

That and I no longer understand why songs and stories refer to David using "only a sling" to defeat Goliath. That was the equivalent of an assault rifle.