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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Ancient Persian Chemical Warfare

The Persian army apparently used poisonous gases during a seige of the Roman city of Dura in the 3rd century A.D., according to the BBC. Archeological evidence shows that large groups of soldiers were overcome in a very short period of time. The Persians dug mines beneath the city, igniting sulphur and bitumen to produce toxic gases that rose up and poisoned the soldiers. The Romans fought back by building counter-mines to channel the gases way from the city. Eventually however, the Persians succeeded in taking Dura, though exactly how they breached the city defenses is not entirely clear. I find it quite disturbing that these tactics were obviously known to the Persians at that time, though it once again shows that a lot of historical records and technological information has been lost in time, only to be rediscovered again the past few hundred years.

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