Greek fire essays

Greek fire essays The original Greek fire was an invention used as a weapon of the Eastern Roman Emperors. It is also said to have been invented by a Syrian engineer, one Callinicus, a refugee from Maalbek, in the seventh century. The Byzantines of Constantinople originally used it. But they never used the term Greek fire because they claimed to be Romans, and never called themselves Greeks. It was like an insult to them because in their times to be Greek was to have a bad reputation. The Greek fire was first time used in the war of seven years. In which the Arabs established a naval base on the peninsula of Kyzikos. This was on the second attack of a battle started by Theophanes. On the third attack of the same battle, Greek fire was used again against the Arabs. The liquid fire was hurled on the ships of their enemies from siphons and burst into flames on contact. As it was reputed to be inextinguishable and burned even on water, it caused panic and dread. Its introduction into warfare of its time was comparable in its demoralizing to the introduction of nuclear weapons in our time. Both Arab and Greek sources agree that it surpassed all incendiary weapons in destruction. It is also possible that Greek fire was really invented by the chemist in Constantinople who had acquired the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school. An Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, said that the recipe for Greek fire had been revealed by an angel to Constantine the Great, and that the earliest chemists called their science the divine art. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (tenth century) in his instruction to his son had commanded him emphatically to keep the composition secret: The secret had in the past been given by an angel to Constantine the Great, those imparting it were anathema, and one about to communicate it had been struck by lightning. ...

The Lords Baltimore and Their Impact on American History

The Lords Baltimore and Their Impact on American History Baron, or Lord, Baltimore is a now  extinct title of nobility in the Peerage of Ireland. Baltimore is an Anglicization of the Irish phrase baile an thà ­ mhà ³ir e, which means town of the big house.   The title was first created for Sir George Calvert in 1624. The title became extinct in 1771 after the death of the 6th Baron.  Sir George and his son, Cecil Calvert, were British subjects rewarded with land in the new world.   Cecil Calvert was the 2nd Lord Baltimore. It is after him that the Maryland city of Baltimore is named after. Thus, in American history, Lord Baltimore usually refers to Cecil Calvert. George Calvert George was an English politician who served as  Secretary of State  to King James I. In 1625, he was given the title Baron Baltimore when he resigned from his official position.​ George became invested in the colonization of the Americas. While initially for commercial incentives, George later realized colonies in the New World could become a refuge for English Catholics and a place for religious freedom in general. The Calvert family was Roman Catholic, a religion which most inhabitants of the New World and followers of the Church of England were prejudiced against. In 1625, Geroge publicly declared his Catholicism. Involving himself with colonies in the Americas, he was at first rewarded with a title to land in Avalon, Newfoundland in present-day Canada. To expand on what he already had, George asked the son of James I, Charles I, for  a royal charter to settle the land north of Virginia. This region would later become the state of  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Maryland. This land was not signed over until 5-weeks after his death. Subsequently, the charter and land settlement was left to his son, Cecil Calvert. Cecil Calvert Cecil was born in 1605 and died in 1675. When Cecil, second Lord Baltimore, founded the colony of Maryland, he expanded on his fathers ideas of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. In 1649, Maryland passed the  Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion. This act mandated religious tolerance  for Trinitarian Christians only. Once the act was passed, it became  the first law establishing a religious tolerance in British North American colonies. Cecil wanted  this law to also  protect Catholic settlers and others who  did not conform to the established state  Church of England.  Maryland, in fact, became known as a haven for Roman Catholics in the New World. Cecil governed Maryland for 42 years. Other Maryland cities and counties honor Lord Baltimore by naming themselves after him. For instance, there is Calvert County, Cecil County, and Calvert Cliffs.