We have lost the secrets of some useful ancient inventions. Despite all the advances in science, the ingenuity of our ancestors, who lived thousands of years ago, sometimes baffles us. Only very recently has it been possible to create analogues of some of these inventions.
1. Greek fire: a mysterious chemical weapon
A miniature of the Madrid list of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes depicts how the Romans used Greek fire against the fleet of Thomas the Slav. The inscription on the miniature reads: "The Roman fleet set fire to the enemy fleet." Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Byzantines in the 7th-12th centuries during naval battles, they used a mysterious substance against their enemies. This liquid was shot through a copper pipe or siphon, it burned in water, it could only be extinguished with a mixture of vinegar, sand and urine. Its exact chemical composition is still unknown. The Byzantines strictly guarded the secret of the Greek fire, it was available only to a select few and as a result was lost.
2. Flexible glass
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There are three ancient accounts of a substance known as vitrum flexile, but it is not known if it actually existed. The first version of this story is described by Petronius the Arbiter.
He tells of a glassblower who showed the emperor Tiberius (reigned 14-37 AD) a glass vessel. He asked the emperor to give him the vessel back and threw it on the floor. The vessel did not break, but only crumpled, and the glassblower quickly gave it its original shape.
Tiberius, fearing that this discovery could lead to the depreciation of precious metals, ordered the beheading of the glassblower so that the secret of vitrum flexile would die with him.
The Roman writer Pliny the Elder also describes this story. He notes that while it is often retelled, it may not be entirely true.
A later version is described by the Roman historian Dion Cassius. He turned the glassblower into a wizard. His vessel, falling to the floor, shattered, but the wizard restored it with his bare hands.
In 2012, glass company Corning introduced its flexible glass. It is heat resistant and so flexible that it can be rolled up. This novelty has proven to be particularly useful for the production of solar panels.
If the unfortunate Roman glassblower did create flexible glass, then he was two thousand years ahead of his time.
3. Universal antidote
It is believed that the king of Pontus Mithridates VI (reigned 120-63 BC) created a "universal antidote", which was later improved by the personal physician of Nero. Its original formula has been lost, writes Adrian Mayor, a science historian at Stanford, in a 2008 report titled Greek Fire, Poisonous Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Weapons of the Ancient World. According to the records of ancient historians, it included opium, crushed vipers and small doses of poisons and their antidotes.
This antidote was named Mithridatium in honor of King Mithridates VI. The major writes that Sergei Popov, one of the leading Soviet experts in the study of chemical weapons, who emigrated to the United States in 1992, was trying to create a modern version of mithridatium.
4. Heat weapon of Archimedes
Illustration of Archimedes setting fire to Roman ships in front of Syracuse using parabolic mirrors.
The Greek mathematician Archimedes created heat rays. The Mythbusters on Discovery Channel attempted to recreate them in 2004. The Major describes it as "a system of bronze shields that reflected the sun's rays onto enemy ships."
The Mythbusters failed to make this weapon and declared it a myth. However, in 2005, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded. They set fire to a ship in the port of San Francisco using weapons invented 2,200 years ago.
Modern heat weapons were created in 2001 by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It uses microwaves to penetrate "through the victim's skin and heat it to 54.44 ° C, making the person feel on fire," writes Major.
5. Roman concrete
The majestic Roman buildings that have survived for millennia are clear evidence of the superiority of Roman cement over modern cement, which begins to deteriorate after 50 years.
In recent years, researchers have been working on the mystery of the durability of Roman cement. One of its secret ingredients is volcanic ash.
In an article published by the University of California, Berkeley, it is reported that the university scientists were able to understand for the first time how this mixture binds the material. The manufacturing process produces less carbon dioxide than the production of modern concrete.
But Roman concrete has several disadvantages: it takes longer to dry and, despite its durability, is more fragile than modern cement.
6. Damascus steel
In the Middle Ages, swords made from a substance known as Damascus steel were made in the Middle East from a material known as Wutz steel. It had amazing strength. A metal of comparable strength was only created in the era of the industrial revolution.
The secret of making Damascus steel was discovered after studying it with electron microscopes in modern laboratories. It was first made in 300 BC, and by the middle of the 17th century. this technology has been lost.
In the production of Damascus steel, a kind of nanotechnology was used: special components were added to trigger a reaction at a quantum level, explains archeology expert K. Chris Hirst.
Hirst cites a study by Peter Paufleder of the University of Dresden and published in Nature in 2006. Paufleder and his collaborators hypothesized that the natural properties of an Asian material (Wutz steel) in combination with substances added during the manufacturing process caused a particular reaction: “Structures formed in the metal, known as carbon nanotubes, very hard tubes of carbon that appeared on the surface and made the blade strong,” explains Hirst.
Materials used to make Damascus steel included the bark of the Cassia auriculata tree, euphorbia, vanadium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, and some rare elements that were probably mined in Indian mines.
Hirst writes: “In the 17th century. the chemical composition of the feedstock has changed, probably because the reserves of these minerals have dried up.