The recipe for Greek fire was guarded so well that it was lost for good.

672

Byzantium burned enemy fleets with it for seven centuries; today historians can only guess its formula — probably petroleum and resins.

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The event

• Greek fire is inventedc. 672 · Constantinople. The incendiary mixture, sprayed from siphons on ships and burning even on water, was used by Byzantium against Arab fleets from the 670s. Its composition was a state secret kept so well that the recipe is lost; most likely it was petroleum mixed with resins.

7th century

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