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Archimedes’ Mirror(s)

According to historians, Archimedes [A famous inventor] created a mirror[s] that deflected the sun’s rays and used them to burn ships of the invading Romans. Modern reenactors try to recreate it, but they can’t make it work at the range of 100 feet what was the range according to historians. There could have been more than one mirror. The first account of a mirror was 800 years after the siege of Syracuse! Do you think it is a myth?

Ancient Greek week

This week will be about ancient Greece, hope you like it. 

Hoplites

Today I will be talking about Hoplites. A Hoplite is a foot soldier in ancient Greece with heavy bronze armour, a large shield called a hoplon (or aspis), a spear and a sword. Hoplites fight in a formation called a phalanx, a formation where the shields are tightly overlapping. The question is when did proto phalanxes (lots of little formations working together) become a major phalanx (one big formation)? There are three theories: 1. Between 750 BC-650 BC because of a change in weapons and armour. 2. Between 800 BC-750 BC because the major phalanx got shown as the better one of the two and rapidly spread through Greece. 3. Between 750 BC – 450 BC because the true major phalanx never emerged until the large scale fighting against the Persians. Which one do you think is right?

Triremes

It is a mystery is that the triremes ships are the largest Greek warship to be pictured but there are larger ships like the quadireme and the quinquereme. There is even a tessarakonteres that is a “forty”! The translation for the Greek word for quadireme is “four oar” we assume it means four banks of rowers but who would make a ship with forty banks! What do you think?