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Top 7 Deadliest Weapons of Ancient Era
Today's weapons, mostly deal with sniping bullets from guns and are designed to ensure death almost in no time. But, in ancient times, greatness of a weapon is measured in terms of its brutality and the pain it offered. The use of these weapons shined some kingdoms pre-eminent for several years demolishing their opponents. Here is the list of most lethal, fearsome weapons of ancient era.
7. Spear:
It consists of a brawny, pointed metal atop (a conventional spear has a
leafy top) with a wooden body downward. Till the advent of gunpowder, this was
proved to be adversely used in almost all great kingdoms as a ballistic and
defensive weapon. Spear was a popular weapon in the ancient Roman empire and then
spread to all great empires of antiquity. The spears which were used for
throwing are javelins which had light weight and were made of wood. Usage of
javelins can be seen in Viking cultures in using them for hunting and fishing
along with wars. The main advantage of these spears is they can cause
a melee to opponents making things easy. However, this popular weapon
became unpopular after the invention of gunpowder and pertained mostly to
hunting.
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| First line defense keeps Spears in a vertical direction and Second row in a horizontal direction giving a scope for exceptional defense |
6. Boiling Oil:
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| A Picture Showing Boiling Oil Used In a Trebuchet |
Though this looks simple, boiling oil was used as a great weapon in the medieval ages. The strength of any kingdom during the medieval age
lied in their forts and castles. This was well recognized by all
kingdoms and techniques were developed to scale the most lofty, indomitable
fort walls. This served as a menace to most of the kingdoms. This led to a
remarkable idea of pouring hot boiling oil on the climbers killing them along
with their soldiers who were at the bottom. Several holes were installed on the
fort & city walls to surprise the opponents with sudden blistering of oil.
They were proved to be very efficient death traps that they were even called as
'murder holes'! Some of the historians say that boiling water is also used as a
weapon in place of oil.
5. Flails:
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| A Flail |
These weapons are little modified versions of "morning stars" which prevailed mostly during neo-medieval times. As there are very few evidences about this deadly weapon, the regions in which it is used is not known. Flail is a weapon with a solid iron ball in the middle with 10-20 sharp pointed metal points (spikes) originating from it which ensure killing a person in a single shot. A chain is attached to the metal part to a wooden handle which allows to swing. They were used mostly by cavalry and infantry as it would give them sufficient force to swing the huge iron ball. History reveals that some of the higher military used spikes even with two spiky metal balls.
4.Trebuchet (Catapult):
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| A hybrid Trebuchet |
This was the first
weapon that showed the other angle of brutality. It gave signs to empires that
infected and dead bodies can be used as shots to destroy opponents. The first usage of
catapult dates back to 5th century B.C. in Byzantium and later spread to other
countries.Medieval Europeans used this weapon to spread 'Black plague' by
throwing dead horses and humans. The old Trebuchet (catapult) consisted of a
small wooden arm and two ropes were tensed to cause force and weighed up to 300
kg. Later, in modern times, it was developed in terms of size & power. It
had an efficiency to throw around 4 projectiles per minute where each of them
could weigh up to 140 kg!
3. Arbalest (Cross Bow):
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| An Ancient Cross Bow Design |
Arbalest is the
modified form of Cross Bow (it is a larger form of Cross Bow). Tales of China
reveal that they were used since 600 B.C. and later spread to Europe in 11th
century A.D. The main advantage is it can be used by any untrained person but
has a deadly power. They were very efficient that they could reach a distance
of 900 meters with ease. It is estimated that an Arbalest can produce a force
of at least 22 kN which is far higher when compared to conventional bows. Larger
arbalests are used to throw rocks which had strength to smash any robust fort
wall. However, its usage was limited as it is used to throw only 2 bolts per
minute.Modern medieval empires had developed long arbalests which can throw 15
bolts per minute. Viking kingdoms used them efficiently to beseech their
opponents quite oftenly.
2. Canons:
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| Hand Cannons of Chinese |
It can be considered as a direct descendant of catapults. After the
advent of gun powder, things have changed. Guns started to replace the
conventional spears and bows. One of such brilliant inventions is canon. There
were evidences that these explosive weapons have their usage from early 14th
century A.D. Starting with the hand canons, huge canons were developed with
1000 shots per round which had the ability to destroy unbreachable fort walls. Stocks of rocks were piled along with tons of gunpowder in the huge cylinders
of canons and were later ignited by a jet of stream or fire when needed.
Origins of canons are not known, but they were widely used in the ancient empires
of China, Greece and Hungary.
1.Greek Fire (Flame Throwers):
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| A Painting Showing Greek Flamethrower |
Also known as 'Byzantine fire' or 'fire torch', this weapon surely was a trump card of Greek and Byzantine empire for centuries. It was invented somewhere in 7th century A.D. and since then it made almost all the Greek opponents to bend down to their knees. As most of the ships of ancient age were made up of wood, it gave birth to a ingenious idea of burning them to ashes. This Greek recipe was made of petroleum, which was kept as a secret until Chinese made a flame thrower in early medieval years. Accordingly, Greeks used it very efficiently by throwing fire all of a sudden giving no chance for the opponents to retreat. Later, after the usage of petroleum came into picture, all the renowned kingdoms made their own flame throwers (They even added poisonous substances like Sulfur).
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