The scent of salt and the rhythmic creaking of timber filled the sailor's senses as he stood
upon the rain-slicked deck of the warship, gazing out across the tumultuous expanse of
the sea. In the distance, a menacing fleet of enemy vessels emerged through the mist,
their dark silhouettes signalling the impending clash. As arrows whistled overhead and the ships
closed in, he could now see what appeared to be lion’s heads made from bronze. In their mouths,
tiny flames danced ominously, a trick of the mind, perhaps? Suddenly,
a jet of fire came flying toward him. He raised his hand over his face, but it was too late;
the flames engulfed him. Ever since the First Punic War, the Roman Empire had been a juggernaut
at sea, a nautical legacy that the Imperium’s medieval successor continued. In this video,
we will explore the thousand-year history of the indomitable, fire-breathing Byzantine navy,
examining the evolution of its technology and tactics and delving into the mysteries of Greek
Fire: the medieval world’s deadliest weapon of fiery mass destruction.
Early Years At its apogee, the Roman Empire controlled
all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean, essentially making the sea a Roman lake or,
as the Romans themselves famously called it, “Mare Nostrum”, “our sea.” The lack of any strong
competitors in the waters of the Mediterranean gradually led to the decline and shrinkage of the
Roman Navy, which had limited itself to tasks such as pirate hunting and escorting merchant vessels.
The old days of massive naval battles like Actium were long gone. However, the civil wars of the 4th
and 5th centuries, as well as the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the establishment of the
Ostrogothic and Vandalic kingdoms rekindled naval warfare in the Mediterranean. The Vandal fleets
sailing from Northern Africa and raiding the coast of Greece forced the Eastern Roman Emperors to
spend large sums of money to reestablish a strong navy. Despite the strong naval tradition of these
lands, their attempts were not always successful; such as when the enormous 1000-ship strong fleet
of Basiliscus was almost destroyed, bringing the Eastern Empire to the brink of economic collapse.
The true revival of Roman naval power came during the following century, especially under the
reign of Emperor Justinian I when he launched his massive campaigns to reclaim North Africa and the
Italian peninsula. After this, the Mediterranean was once more dominated by the Roman fleet,
even after the loss of much of Italy to the Lombards, who were not seafaring people and
preferred not to clash against the Byzantine fleet. The greatest naval threat presented
to the Empire until the advent of the Islamic caliphate came from the Slavs during the Sassanid
siege of Constantinople in 626, whose canoes were still not up to par with the imperial dromons.
The Dromon The Dromon
was the primary warship of the Byzantine navy and was a new type of galley whose design had
originated from the earlier Roman liburnae, which were small but very fast ships. Yet
the dromons had characteristics that set them apart from their predecessors. They
featured a full deck, a trait that would soon define all Mediterranean galleys,
and used lateen sails as opposed to the square sails of the liburna. Perhaps the greatest
difference between the Dromon and its ancient ancestor was the abandonment of the waterline ram,
an element almost synonymous with the ships of antiquity, in favor of an above-the-water
spur that historians have suggested was used to break the oars of enemy vessels. No clear reason
exists for why the Byzantines opted to abandon the ramming prow, but it is likely that innovations in
the mortise and tenon method of construction of the ship’s hull made ramming obsolete.
The dromons that first appeared during Justinian’s reign were single-banked, with one mast and
roughly 50 oarsmen, 25 on each side. In the 9th and 10th centuries, larger dromons appeared
on Byzantine waters, with two banks of oars and roughly 100 to 120 oarsmen. These larger versions
were also equipped with two masts instead of one. The ships were steered using two-quarter rudders
at the stern. Also at the stern was the captain’s quarters, a rather humble tent and a bed. Towards
the center of the ship, between the masts, there were wooden fortifications, the xylokastra,
that provided cover for the archers of the ship when they were engaged in combat. The archers were
not the only attacking option of the ship, as they also carried a sizable marine force that could
board an enemy vessel. Beyond this, the imperial dromons also had a trump card: a weapon that made
them infamous and feared throughout the medieval world and remembered even today; Greek Fire.
The Greek Fire Incendiary weapons were
not a novelty. Many combustible mixtures made from sulphur and petroleum existed as early
as the 9th century BC and had been used by the Assyrians. But the exact substance that came to be
known as Greek Fire was discovered around 672 AD, ostensibly by the Byzantine engineer Kallinikos,
who was born in Heliopolis in modern day Lebanon. However, some historians have suggested that
Kallinikos merely improved upon an existing weapon or that a team of scholars created the substance.
On the complete opposite bank of the river stands Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos’s account,
which states that the recipe was revealed by an angel to Constantine the Great. While there is
little doubt that the creation of this medieval napalm was not due to divine intervention,
the emperor’s account goes to show how important the secret of the Greek Fire
was to the Byzantines. In fact, the level of secrecy surrounding the weapon was so great
that none of the empire’s enemies were ever able to copy either the flammable substance
or the method of deployment. A great example of this is the capture of both siphons and large
quantities of the substance by the Bulgarians in 814, who, despite having large quantities of the
chemical substance in their hands, were unable to figure out how to reproduce their own. Even the
Byzantine’s chief enemy of the time, the Arabs, were unable to copy the siphons and used pots
filled with their own incendiary mixture that was thrown by hand or artillery, such as catapults.
Greek fire’s uniquely destructive properties, such as its ability to burn on water and
only be extinguished by sand or vinegar were truly miraculous, but so was the means of its
deployment: the siphons. These tubular projectors were usually mounted on the dromon’s prow under
a forecastle that would provide cover for the operators, but in later times and when facing
more dangerous enemies, additional devices were installed in the midst of the vessel or even at
the stern. We don’t know exactly how the mechanism was made, but some sources give us a general idea.
It seems that the oily substance was heated inside a bronze vessel, while a hand pump would add in
air to pressurize it. When the proper pressure had been reached, the crew would open a valve, and the
oil would travel with great speed through bronze pipes to the nozzle. Just beyond the tip of the
nozzle, there would be a flame, either a torch or lamp, that would ignite the oil as it was launched
at the enemy ship, with sources claiming that a loud roar and smoke accompanied the discharge.
Portable versions, the cheirosiphon or hand-siphon, were also created,
with Emperor Leo the Wise claiming to have invented them in his Tactica. These
smaller flamethrowers differ in their mode of operation and were mostly used in land battles
and especially sieges, as they proved extremely effective at repelling enemy troops. Perhaps the
most famous incident where Greek Fire was used was the Arab siege of Constantinople in 698,
when the Byzantine navy utilized its fearsome weapon to save the city. Yet despite having the
Greek Fire in its arsenal, the Byzantine fleet was not an unstoppable and unbeatable force.
The weapon had limitations of its own, such as a shorter range than catapults, and was tricky
and even disastrous to use in unfavourable wind conditions. Additionally, the Byzantines’ enemies
soon adapted to contend with Greek Fire, such as the Arabs, who adapted their strategies to keep
outside of the siphons range while also upgrading their ships with vinegar-dipped animal hides that
were resistant to the flames. For centuries, these two naval powers would clash in the
waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, trying to wrest control of the seas from each other.
The Tactics Various treatises such as the “Taktika” by
Leo the Wise, “Peri thalassomachias” by Nikephoros Ouranos and “Praecepta militaria” by Nikephoros
Phokas give us insight into the tactics used by the Byzantine navy of the early Middle Ages.
Great emphasis was placed on the professionalism and training of both the admiral and the sailors,
who should especially be well versed in the naval maneuvers that were necessary for fast ships such
as the dromons. The commander was also encouraged to fight mostly in areas of his own choosing,
where familiarity with the local geography would grant him an advantage. He was also
expected to coordinate plans with fellow captains using a signaling system, and
even rehearse tactical plans before battles. The fleet, depending on its size and the environment,
was usually deployed in a crescent, sigma-shaped or semi-circle formation, with the flagship in the
middle and the other stronger ships placed at the tips of the formation. Moreover,
a reserve force was usually kept behind the main formation. The plan during most battles
was usually to lure the enemy inside the curve and then surround their ships. Then, they would
attack using a combination of the Greek fire from the siphons, archer volleys, ballistas and
catapults. After softening the foe up, they would send a boarding party on the enemy ship. This was
the main tactic that was used for galley warfare in the Mediterranean up until the 16th century.
Through the use of iron grapples and ropes, a dromons could tie itself to an enemy galley.
Sometimes, multiple dromons could dock to form a larger fighting platform. Once the ships were
close, the Byzantines would use large spears, the menaula, to kill the enemy oarsmen. Other weapons
used by the Byzantine seamen during the melee included swords and axes, as well as shorter
spears and personal weapons such as knives. Great emphasis was placed on armour, with both
the heavily armoured kataphrakts of the upper deck and the rest of the crew wearing mail or lamellar
cuirasses, padded jackets, helmets, greaves and vambraces. Naturally, the ranged troops
and the oarsmen who were not expected to be on the frontline during close combat had less protection.
Organization The organization
of the Byzantine navy was similar to that of the Byzantine army. In response to the rapid
Muslim advance into Roman territory in the early Middle Ages, the Byzantines created
the Karabisianoi fleet, which comprised the main naval force of the empire and was headed
by a strategos. This highly monolithic system proved inadequate, and it was later replaced by
a system that included maritime themes, with the first being the Theme of Cibyrrhaeots,
the Imperial fleet stationed in Constantinople which was most likely created sometime in
the early 9th century and highly local policing squadrons that belonged to land themes.
As we have mentioned, the head of the fleet was called strategos, and the rest
of the ranks followed a similar terminology to their land counterparts. Below the strategos,
there were usually two or three tourmarchai as vice admirals; below them, the droungarioi served
as rear admirals. In the lower ranks, there were the komes who would command a squadron
of three to five ships, while the captain of each ship was called the kentarchos. Following them,
there were other officers such as the protokaraboi, who acted as helmsmen;
the proteus, who was the prow officer; and protelatai, who were the first oarsmen.
The Imperial fleet was a special case, with its commander called
the droungarios tou basilikou ploimou. While originally the title lacked much prestige,
it soon rose among other offices and was classed separately from the other commanders
of the themes or the tagmata, in a group of officials called stratarchai, just below the
commander of the Imperial Bodyguard. During the Komnenian reforms of the high middle ages,
and with the dissolution of the thematic fleets, this position was placed under the new office
of the megas doux, which was in command of the reformed and unified imperial fleet.
Later Years The supremacy of
the Byzantine navy would not last beyond the 12th century. After that, while the Empire still had a
rich maritime heritage and skilled sailors, it was on the economic decline and could not
compete with the rising naval power of the Italian city states, especially Venice and
Genoa. The disastrous Fourth Crusade only worsened the fate of the late Byzantine navy, and while
attempts were made to rebuild some of its lost strength, its glory days now belonged in the past.
The most notable attempt to reverse the declining trend was made by Emperor Michael VIII,
who created three new marine units: the Gasmouloi, the Tzakones and the Prosalentai, which were a
dedicated oarsmen corps. While the new Vasilikos Stolos had some successes, especially under
Philanthopinos, it was disbanded in 1283 by Andronikos II, who deemed the upkeep costs to
be too great and instead preferred to rely on the maritime strength of his Genoese allies.
However, in 1349, the Byzantines were forced to raise their own fleet to fight
against the Genoese, who had turned against them. In the ensuing battle,
only nine out of the 100 ships the Byzantines fielded were state warships, so the decisive
defeat they suffered shouldn’t come as a surprise. From Kantakouzenos, we are informed that later,
the Byzantine fleet consisted of 200 vessels. Still, the vast majority of these ships were
requisitioned merchantmen, and sources never mention more than ten imperial galleys.
Such was also the case during the final siege of 1453 when the last small Roman naval victory,
if we can call it that, took place when four ships from Chios with Genoese and Greek sailors
sailed past the naval blockade of Mehmet’s admiral Baltaoglu and even managed to hold off an attack
from the Ottoman navy for several hours. It is said that the furious Ottoman Sultan even rode his
horse into the sea, cursing his own admiral and later wanted to impale Baltaoglu, who was saved
by the pleas of other officials. Mehmet would then transfer part of his fleet overland into
the Golden Horn and seal the fate of the city. The fall of Constantinople on the 29th brought
an official end to the history of the Roman navy that spanned over a millennium. More videos on
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