Episode #218- Did the Siege of Constantinople Even Happen? (Part III)

Our Fake History

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Education, Talk Radio, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2024

⏱️ 97 minutes

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Summary

The second Arab siege of Constantinople should probably just be called the "real" Arab siege of Constantinople. In 717 the Umayyad Caliphate seriously threatened the continued existence of the Roman Empire by besieging the capital from both land and sea. The the army of the Caliphate vastly outnumbered the Roman defenders. But the Romans still had a few tricks up their sleeves. The formidable Theodosian walls, the horrifying flaming liquid known as Greek Fire, and one most slippery men to ever be called Roman Emperor all helped Constantinople weather the Umayyad storm. How did the Romans manage to survive this time? Tune-in and find out how tricky Greeks, unquenchable flames, and general who was just too darn honest all play a role in the story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone, Sebastian here. Just wanted to let you know that I will once again be participating in this year's Intelligent Speech Conference.
0:09.5	Deception, lies, fakery, fraudulence, and forgery is what they have on the docket for Intelligent Speech 2025.
0:19.3	So, obviously, I've got to be there. For those that don't know,
0:25.1	intelligent speech is an online conference that highlights the best in history podcasting.
0:32.1	Intelligence Speech 2025 deception will be taking place on the 8th of February 2025.
0:39.9	So if you want tickets, go to Intelligent Speechonline.com right now and get yourself to the conference.
1:01.9	Okay. Okay, we need to talk about Greek fire.
1:09.4	This is one of those ancient superweapons that sounds like it should be a historical myth,
1:15.0	a chemical weapon capable of creating an unquenchable fire.
1:19.3	A fire that could not be extinguished using water.
1:22.8	A fire that burned on top of water.
1:26.7	A fire that somehow burned underwater.
1:33.4	When employed at sea, it had the ability to consume wooden ships and all hands unlucky enough to be touched by the ferocious substance.
1:37.7	Even if a burning sailor managed to plunge into the sea,
1:42.1	there was no guarantee that the fire would go out.
1:46.1	The burning man might suffocate before the fire did.
1:51.1	It's the kind of nasty invention that feels very modern, the kind of thing that could only
1:57.7	be produced in the antiseptic laboratories of modern arms manufacturers.
2:03.6	And yet, we're told that this remarkable substance was deployed to devastating effect
2:10.4	by the medieval Romans. Greek fire sounds like it had to have been made up by some imaginative chronicler.
2:20.1	But believe it or not, the historical evidence attesting to its existence is very strong.
2:27.2	Not only do late Roman sources written in Greek speak of this remarkable weapon,
	...

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