Greek fire

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…or emperors; a chemist, and further east, in Saracen lands had discovered it. There were other chemists no less inventive. The secret behind the Greek fire was handed down from one emperor to the next for the centuries. Rumors about its composition include such chemicals as liquid petroleum, naphtha, burning pitch, sulfur, resin quicklimeand bitumen, along with some other secret ingredient. The exact composition, however, remains unknown. Bibliography the history of Greek fire and Gunpowder