flaming arrows

[winterbadger]

The appalling quotes re: Gladiator I stumbled across trying to affirmjohn_arundel's disgust with the frequent use of fire arrows in movies. Actually, the more I look, the more justification there seems to be for their presence. Not necessarily common as antipersonnel weapons, but as siege weapons thay seem to have been frequently used in the ancient world, in Dark Ages and medieval Europe, Asia, and on the American frontier.

The Assyrians prove pyromaniacs (or at least pyro-expert)

Naval warfare sees its share of fire arrows and flame pots
The Romans use fire arrows against the walls of Panormos, Sicily, during the First Punic War

Arab raiders shoot flaming arrows at Italian monks in 881

Medieval siege engines are covered in wet hides to protect them from fire arrows

The wooden walls of the bailey of an early castle at Warwick burned by fire arrows

The Colossus of Rhodes included water tanks for putting out arrow-started fies

Roman fort in Britain built to withstand flaming arrows

Houses in Bruges are set on fire by arrows shot by the defensders of its citadel in 1127

The First Crusade sets the walls of Jerusalem alight with fire arrows shot into straw used to reinforce the walls
(ballista bolts are also used to set on fire the towers of the city defenses, and "carcasses" (hulks of burning straw) and naptha bombs--a favourite in Arab and Byzantine armies--are used agaisnt the city)

The citizens of Norwich-in a 1272 dispute with its monks--burn the roof off the cathedral using fire arrows

Finds on the Mary Rose included leather gauntlets used to protect archers from teh flaming arrows they fired

Henry ("Light Horse Harry") Lee and Mel Gibson's darling Francis Marion use fire arrows against the British garrison of Fort Motte
(who's burning what down with who in it, Mel?)

Whch is to say nothing of the Asian and Native American use of the things, nor Paul's refernce to them in his letter to the ?Ephesians? (if I see one more page referring to that I may scream.

Comments

[deza.livejournal.com]

Look closely at the dog. They used a GSD in the film.

Don't even get me started on period horses. I go on for days. ;)

[winterbadger]

I think I was laughing too hard at the background vocals of the German warriors (lifted from the movie Zulu) to notice the dog closely. :-)