Byzantine War Ships and
Naval War
(from the Fourth to the Eleventh
Century)
Roman warship (4th century, Mainx)
Byzantine dromon, early 6th century
• Dromon in the Ilias Ambrosiana (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Cod.
Ambros. F. 205 Inf., min. VIII), early sixth century.
Byzantine dromon
• 30-50 meters long
and 5-7 meters wide,
carrying up to 250
men (200 rowers and
50 marines)
Greek Fire and Byzantine Naval Warfare
• from the Madrid Skylitzes Ms, early 12th century, Sicily ( Biblioteca Nacional de
Espaňa in Madrid)
• The Chronicle of Theophanes (810) reports that in 673 an inventor named Kallinikos “had
•
devised a sea fire which ignited the Arab ships and burned them with all hands. Thus it was
that the Romans returned with victory and discovered the sea fire.” Greek Fire was a
combustible substance made from some combination of petroleum, naphtha, and other
ingredients that at the least could not be put out with water and perhaps was either spread or
even ignited by contact with water. Byzantine chroniclers falsely claimed that the formula
remained a closely guarded state secret. In actuality, Greek Fire was used by Arab fleets as well
and was a standard part of the weaponry of eastern Mediterranean fleets 700-1100. The
substance itself, either pumped at high pressure out of bronze siphons mounted on the bows of
galleys or lobbed, from on-board catapults, in earthenware pots that would shatter on impact,
constituted a deadly weapon against wooden ships that the Byzantine navy used again and
again to devastating effect, most decisively at the siege of Constantinople in 717. Only when
the Turks discovered how to combat it in the late eleventh century (vinegar, rather than water,
did the trick in dousing the flames) did Greek Fire lose importance as a Byzantine naval
weapon; the formula was lost with the fall of the Empire, never to be recovered.
Greek Fire had limitations, as the siphons had limited range and catapulted pots had limited
accuracy. Greek Fire had to be handled carefully lest one’s own ship caught fire.

Stephen Morillo
Saracen fleet from Madrid Skylitzes Ms (12th century)
Muslim amphibious assault on Thessalonica under Leo of Tripoli, 904
(from Madrid Skylitzes Ms, 12th century)
Reconquest of Chandax (Heraklion), Emirate of Crete, by Nicephoras
Phocas (later emperor) in 960.
(From Madrid Skylitzes Ms, 12th century)
• Nicephoras Phocas commanded a fleet of 100 dromons, 200 chelandia, and
308 transports, carrying an overall force of 77,000 men, to subdue the
island. The conquest of Crete removed the direct threat to the Aegean,
Byzantium's naval heartland, while Phokas' subsequent operations led to
the recovery of Cilicia (in 963) and Cyprus (in 968).