Early chemical warfare comes to light

ScienceNews ^ | 11 Jan 2009 | Bruce Bower

[BGHater]

Roman soldiers defending a Middle Eastern garrison from attack nearly 2,000 years ago met the horrors of war in a most unusual place. Inside a cramped tunnel beneath the site’s massive front wall, enemy fighters stacked up nearly two dozen dead or dying Romans and set them on fire, using substances that gave off toxic fumes and drove away Roman warriors just outside the tunnel.

The attackers, members of Persia’s Sasanian culture that held sway over much of the region in and around the Middle East from the third to the seventh centuries, adopted a brutally ingenious method for penetrating the garrison wall, reported Simon James of the University of Leicester in England on January 10 at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America.

“In my view, this is the earliest archaeological evidence for the use of chemical warfare, which was later used by the ancient Greeks,” James said.

The Roman garrison at Dura (now called Dura-Europos) was located in what is now Syria and sat on a cliff overlooking the Euphrates River. The massive Sasanian siege of the garrison occurred in 256, give or take a few years. No historical records exist of this battle. Archaeological work conducted since 1920 at the ancient garrison has provided glimpses of the fierce conflict, although much remains unknown about precisely what happened.

[BGHater]

Romans ping.

[ClearCase_guy]

“In my view, this is the earliest archaeological evidence for the use of chemical warfare, which was later used by the ancient Greeks,” James said.

What kind of fool is this? The siege happened in 256 AD. Fine. No Problem. But he says that chemical warfare was used "later", by the "ancient Greeks".

Uhhhh. Later than 256 AD, you get the Byzantine Empire which spoke Greek, but called themselves Roman and which are never classified as "ancient Greeks".

[cardinal4]

Good catch..
That method was employed later in the millenium when Steppe raiders lobbed the plague victims’ bodies into the forts of Genoa on the Black Sea, starting what some believe, the great plague of 1300’s..

[SunkenCiv]

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[Condor51]

I caught that blatant error too.

[SunkenCiv]

• Ancient Persians who gassed Romans were the first to use chemical weapons

  01/14/2009 8:37:02 PM PST · by bruinbirdman · 20 replies · 968+ views

  The Telegraph | 1/14/2008

  They gassed Roman soldiers with toxic fumes 2,000 years ago, researchers have discovered. Archeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare yet after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers' found underground in Syria 70 years ago. Archeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers Clues left at the scene revealed the Persians were lying in wait as the Romans dug a tunnel during a siege -- then pumped in toxic gas -- produced by sulphur crystals and bitumen -- to kill all the Romans in minutes. Dr Simon James,...

• Buried Roman Soldiers of Dura May Be Victims of Ancient Iranian Chemical Weapon

  03/09/2011 10:35:20 PM PST · by OddLane · 23 replies

  The Circle Of Ancient Iranian Studies | Thursday, 10 March 2011 | CAIS

  LONDON, (CAIS) -- Almost 2,000 years ago, 19 Roman soldiers rushed into a cramped underground tunnel, sent to defend the Roman-occupied Syrian city of Dura-Europos from an army of Persians digging to undermine the city's mudbrick walls. But instead of Persian soldiers, the Romans met with a wall of noxious black smoke that turned to acid in their lungs. Their crystal-pummelled swords were no match for this weapon; the Romans choked and died in moments, many with their last pay of coins still slung in purses on their belts. Nearby, a Persian soldier -- perhaps the one who started the...