PART 8 (Genre: Trivia)
– The Ancient Ray Gun –
214–212 BC… It was a period during the Siege of Syracuse—the war between the Roman Republic and Syracuse. The GREAT POWER Rome would have been able to occupy the city-state Syracuse much faster if the ECCENTRIC genius Archimedes didn’t exist in this era……
Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC) is very famous as a mathematician, but did you know that he was also a military engineer? He invented some UNUSUAL weapons to protect Syracuse. The most famous one of them is called “Archimedes Heat Ray.”
Have you ever burned something black by focusing sunlight onto it with a magnifying glass in your childhood? The weapon Archimedes came up with had the same principle with that classic kids’ mischief. He set a bunch of HUGE mirrors on the coast and commanded the Syracuse soldiers as Roman warships attacked from the sea:
“Reflect sunlight with these mirrors and focus the lights onto one point! The target is a bow of the warship painted black!”
Roman warships of those days were galleys made of wood… As their black bows absorbed heat of the lights they easily caught on fire! Can you imagine how surprised the Roman army were about this FUTURISTIC BEAM WEAPON?
Rome couldn’t easily make Syracuse surrender because of the OUTLANDISH weapons Archimedes developed. It’s an astonishing fact that the city-state had resisted against the GREAT POWER for about three years.
Can you believe that Archimedes already knew the concept of a RAY GUN about 2200 years ago? Of course, science fiction movies which inspire us with an idea of a BEAM WEAPON didn’t exist in that era… But then where did his idea come from?
This episode tells us how UNIQUE his brain was.
– END –
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