Greek Fire’s First Recorded Use in Byzantine History (and the Revolt of Vitalian, 513-515)
*
Many would know that Greek Fire, the secret super weapon of the Byzantine Empire was first invented in 672 and first used by the Byzantine navy against the Arabs in the 674-678 Arab Siege of Constantinople. However, even before this said event, there was already an incidence wherein a weapon similar to it was put into use. This happened in 515 when Byzantine imperial troops used sulphur to burn the ships of the rebel general Vitalian.
*
⚔️ Now in 513, the general Vitalian- a hero of the Persian War of 502-506- who was either of Gothic or Scythian descent while also holding the title of Comes in Thrace declared rebellion against the emperor Anastasius I (r. 491-518) due to the emperor’s pro-Monophysite policies and his refusal to supply the army with regular provisions. After gathering a large number of upset soldiers to his cause, Vitalian began his rebellion claiming it to be in the name of the Orthodox faith which is what attracted many people to his cause in the first place. After defeating an army sent by Anastasius led by the emperor’s nephew the Magister Militum in Thrace Hypatius, Vitalian then attacked Constantinople but was forced to lift his attack when his officers accepted a truce from Anastasius. Vitalian however still did not give up his rebellion that he true enough this time defeated two armies Anastasius sent against him; the first army under the general Cyril who Vitalian managed to kill in his sleep when invading his camp in Odessus (now Varna, Bulgaria) and the second one consisting of 80,000 men led by the same Hypatius and a Hunnish general. The defeated Hypatius was thus captured by Vitalian who ransomed him for 1,100 pounds of gold. With nothing stopping him, Vitalian thus attacked Constantinople again in 514 with the aim to overthrow Anastasius and make himself emperor unless Anastasius renounces his pro-Monophysite policies, restores Orthodoxy by having the pope come to Constantinople for a council, pays the ransom for Hypatius, and to grant Vitalian the position of Magister Militum of Thrace.
*
🔥 Due to not succeeding in organizing a council to restore the Orthodox faith and to restore the Orthodox bishops Anastasius fired from their positions, Vitalian here seeing that the emperor did not honor his word thus launched a full-scale attack on Constantinople in 515 first capturing the suburb of Sycae right across the Golden Horn (Galata). However, before Vitalian could cross the Golden Horn into the city, an imperial army under the command of Marinus sent by Anastasius defeated Vitalian’s rebel fleet at the Golden Horn in which the historian John Malalas says that they used a sulphur-based chemical substance that blew out a form of liquid fire strong enough to stick on water for minutes and thus burn down ships, very similar to Greek Fire built over a century later. With his fleet burned down, Vitalian fled to Thrace at the dead of night and thus went into hiding for years until being recalled to Constantinople after Anastasius’ death in 518 by Anastasius I’s successor Justin I (r. 518-527) but only to be killed in 520 possibly under the orders of Justin’s nephew Justinian.
*
🖼️ Images: Greek Fire used at sea (top-left), Emperor Anastasius I (top-right), Greek Fire against a Byzantine soldier (bottom-left), Greek Fire in action (bottom-right).