Ancient Chemical Weapons??

I was not certain where to place this, but it seems to be fitting to have this here.

It seems in the city of Dura-Europos, Syria, researchers are concluding that the Ancient Persians where one of the earliest people to utilize Chemical Weapons during a Conflict.

dsc.discovery.com...

Earliest Chemical Warfare Felled Roman Fort
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

According to James, the Persians, who had heard the Romans tunneling, prepared a nasty surprise." They placed fire pits strategically throughout the tunnel, and when the Romans broke through, the Persians gassed them by adding sulfur crystals and bitumen to the fire. This filled the tunnel with toxic sulfur dioxide gas.

The Captured ended up going to Persia after Dura fell.

I was also surprised to note, the fact they deliberately created Chemical Weapons seemed to be remarkable.

"But James adds vivid new details, based on his careful analysis of the evidence. His real breakthrough is the remarkable fact that the Persian deliberately created a chemical weapon," Mayor told Discovery News.

Make's you wonder how far we really have advanced over some 2000 Years. Same Place, Same Pastime, Same Problems.

Ciao

Shane

The Greeks and Byzantines also used "Greek fire", a form of flame thrower based on sulfur and petroleum mixture. They could literally scoop bitumen and petroleum up from the ground where it collected in pools.

What would be interesting is if Mother Nature played a role in ancient mans awareness of toxic gases by their close proximity to active volcanoes in their region. Volcanoes can spew CO2 which can wipe out an entire village. Lake Nyos in Africa is a perfect example of how CO2 can cause mysterious deaths. Such deaths could have inspired more than one ancient general in the ways of using such gases in combat or as a trap for their enemies.

Make's you wonder how far we really have advanced over some 2000 Years. Same Place, Same Pastime, Same Problems

It's the nature of the beast, just be glad mankind didn't have WMD's back in the day, we wouldn't be here now.