Materials
Callincus [b. Heliopolis, Egypt, c. 620] invents a substance that will burn in water and thus be a weapon against wooden ships; it is known as sea fire, wet fire, or Greek fire. Other substances had been previously used to ignite wooden ships in sea battle, such as a form of burning pitch introduced as a naval weapon by Rhodes in 190 bce, but sea fire, whose exact composition remains unknown, was a specific wettable compound used primarily by the Byzantine Greeks during sieges of Constantinople. One school of thought holds that it may have contained quicklime, which produces heat when in contact with water.
