Greek Fire Poison Arrows Scorpion Bombs

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Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2022-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691211084

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Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

A gripping and groundbreaking history of how ancient cultures developed and used biological, chemical, and other unconventional weapons of war Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. In this riveting history of the origins of unconventional war, Adrienne Mayor shows that cultures around the world have used biological and chemical weapons for thousands of years—and debated the morality of doing so. Drawing extraordinary connections between the mythical worlds of Hercules and the Trojan War, the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides, and modern methods of war and terrorism, this richly illustrated history catapults readers into the dark and fascinating realm of ancient war and mythic treachery.

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows And Scorpion Bombs

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 319 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2006-07
Category : History
ISBN : 1422353826

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Greek Fire, Poison Arrows And Scorpion Bombs by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

Weapons of biological & chemical warfare have been in use for thousands of years. This is the first book to trace biological & chemical warfare to its ancient roots. Drawing on sources ancient & modern, Mayor describes ancient recipes for arrow poisons, booby traps rigged with plague, petroleum-based combustibles, choking gases, & the deployment of dangerous animals & venomous snakes & insects. Also explores the ambiguous moral implications inherent in this kind of warfare: are these nefarious forms of weaponry ingenious or cowardly? Admirable or reprehensible? A highly readable page-turner that will catapult readers into the dark & fascinating realm of ancient war & mythic treachery -- & their devastating consequences.Ó Illustrations.

Summary of Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs

Author : Everest Media,
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
Page : 34 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2022-08-08T22:59:00Z
Category : History
ISBN : 9798822583030

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Summary of Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs by Everest Media, Pdf

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The first biological weapon was invented by the Greek hero Hercules, and the roots of the concept go back even before the Greek myths were written down by Homer in the eighth century BC. Poison and arrows were deeply intertwined in the ancient Greek language itself. #2 Hercules was tasked with killing the Hydra, a monster that had many heads. He used fire to cauterize each neck as he chopped off a head, to prevent it from sprouting new ones. But the middle head was immortal. He hacked it off and buried it alive. #3 The first victims of Hercules’ arrows were some of his oldest friends. When he attended a party hosted by his Centaur friend, the half-man, half-horse, Pholus, many Centaurs were felled by Hercules’ poisoned arrows. #4 The myth of Hercules and the Hydra shows the dangers of self-inflicted wounds or accidents with poison projectiles. Even a scratch could be devastating, and the Hydra poison multiplied in power as it spread through Hercules’ body.

The Amazons

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 538 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2016-02-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691170275

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The Amazons by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

The real history of the Amazons in war and love Amazons—fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world—were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons. But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China. Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons—Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China. Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.

Gods and Robots

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2020-04-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691202266

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Gods and Robots by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.

The Poison King

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2011-03-27
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780691150260

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The Poison King by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

A new account of one of Rome's most relentless but least understood foes. Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals.--From publisher description.

Fossil Legends of the First Americans

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2023-04-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691245614

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Fossil Legends of the First Americans by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

The burnt-red badlands of Montana's Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2022-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691211183

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Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels—and the surprising truths behind them Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from ancient, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries. The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle’s sea serpent and Geronimo’s dragon; Flaubert’s obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women’s breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there’s much, much more. Showcasing Mayor’s trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities.

Greek Fire

Author : Nicholas Gage
Publisher : Vision
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2001-10-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0446610763

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Greek Fire by Nicholas Gage Pdf

Packed with newly uncovered secrets, this account of the romance of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis and opera diva Maria Callas reveals their full story. Drawing from the private papers of Callas, the author tracks their relationship, from Onassis's pursuit of Callas throughout Europe to the strange covert courtship conducted prior to his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Tales of the Narts

Author : John Colarusso,Tamirlan Salbiev
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2020-11-03
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780691211527

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Tales of the Narts by John Colarusso,Tamirlan Salbiev Pdf

An exciting collection of mythology about heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters in the intriguing world of the nomad warriors of the Caucasus The Nart sagas are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. Tales of the Narts expands the canon of this precious body of lore by presenting a wide selection of fascinating tales that are part of a living tradition among the peoples of Ossetia in southern Russia. A mythical tribe of nomad warriors, the Narts are courageous, bold, and good-hearted, but also capable of envy, cruelty, and violence. In this wonderfully vivid and accessible collection, colorful and exciting heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters pursue their destinies though a series of exploits, often with the intervention of ancient gods.

Six-Legged Soldiers

Author : Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2010-07-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9780199733538

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Six-Legged Soldiers by Jeffrey A. Lockwood Pdf

Examines how insects have been used as weapons in wartime conflicts throughout history, presenting as examples how scorpions were used in Roman times and hornets nests were used during the MIddle Ages in siege warfare and how insects have been used in Vietnam, China, and Korea.

The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino

Author : Jerry Toner
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 145 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781421415864

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The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino by Jerry Toner Pdf

The Roman Emperor Commodus wanted to kill a rhinoceros with a bow and arrow, and he wanted to do it in the Colosseum. For fourteen days near the end of AD 192, the emperor mounted one of the most lavish gladiatorial games Rome had ever seen. People rushed from all over Italy to witness the spectacle. Why did Roman rulers spend vast resources on such over-the-top displays? Why did the Roman rabble enjoy watching the slaughter of animals and the sight of men fighting to the death? In this book, Jerry Toner set out to answer these questions by describing what it would have been like to attend Commodus' fantastic shows.

The First Fossil Hunters

Author : Adrienne Mayor
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2023-04-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691245607

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The First Fossil Hunters by Adrienne Mayor Pdf

The fascinating story of how the fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other extinct animals influenced some of the most spectacular creatures of classical mythology Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants—these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the earth in the very places where their legends first arose? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact—in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans. As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground. Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. Long thought to be fantasy, the remarkably detailed and perceptive Greek and Roman accounts of giant bone finds were actually based on solid paleontological facts. By reading these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology.

Toxic

Author : Dan Kaszeta
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2021-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780197578094

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Toxic by Dan Kaszeta Pdf

Nerve agents are the world's deadliest means of chemical warfare. Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and massive industry for their manufacture--yet, strangely, the Third Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve agents' gradual spread across the world, despite international arms control efforts. They've been deployed in the Iran-Iraq War, by terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in Malaysia and Salisbury--always with bitter consequences. Toxic recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers.

Little Free Library

Author : Naomi Kritzer
Publisher : Tor Books
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2020-04-08
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781250780621

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Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer Pdf

From the award-wining fantasy author of the Dead Rivers Trilogy, comes Naomi Kritzer's enchanting Tor.com Original short story, "Little Free Library" Upon setting up her own Little Free Library that she built from a kit, Meagan develops an unexpected friendship with a mysterious book borrower. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.