page_title: Early thermal weapons
section_title: Techniques of use
hierarchical_section_title: Early thermal weapons / Techniques of use
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Tapisserie de Bayeux - Scène 19&#160;: le siège de Dinan (détail). Les soldats de Guillaume, duc de Normandie, attaquent la motte castrale de Dinan. Le duc de Bretagne, Conan, capitule et remet les clefs de la ville sur une lance. English: Bayeux Tapestry - Scene 19: siege of Dinan (detail). The soldiers of William, Duke of Normandy attack the motte-and-bailey castle of Dinan. Conan II, Duke of Brittany surrenders and gives the keys to Dinan via a lance.
context_page_description: Early thermal weapons were used in warfare during the classical and medieval periods using heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories.
  Incendiary devices were frequently used as projectiles during warfare, particularly during sieges and naval battles: some substances were boiled or heated to inflict damage by scalding or burning; other substances relied on their chemical properties to inflict burns or damage. These weapons or devices could be used by individuals, thrown by siege engines, or utilised as army strategy. Incendiary mixtures, such as the petroleum-based Greek fire, could be launched by throwing machines or administered through a siphon. Sulfur- and oil-soaked materials were sometimes ignited and thrown at the enemy, or attached to spears, arrow and bolts and fired by hand or machine.
  The simplest and most common thermal projectiles were boiling water and hot sand, which could be poured over attacking personnel. Other anti-personnel weapons included the use of hot pitch, oil, resin, animal fat and other similar compounds. Smoke was used to confuse or drive off attackers.
context_section_description: At the simplest level, fire itself was used as a weapon to cause large-scale destruction, or to target specific enemy positions or machinery.  It was frequently used against siege engines and wooden structures.  Incendiary weapons could be used to set fire to towns and fortifications, and a wide range of thermal weapons were used against enemy personnel.  Some armies developed specialised "fire-troops".  By 837, many Muslim armies had groups of "naffatin" (fire archers), and when the Mamluk Sultanate raised a fleet for an attack on Cyprus they had "nafata", or firetroops.
caption: Normans use torches to fire the wooden keep on a motte at Dinan, 1064, Bayeux Tapestry
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