He noticed that previous reports described telltale mineral residues and yellow sulfur crystals in the tunnel. "These provided the vital clue. When ignited, such materials give off dense clouds of choking gases," James said. According to James, the Persians, who had heard the Romans tunneling, "prepared a nasty surprise." They placed fire pits strategically throughout the tunnel, and when the Romans broke through, the Persians gassed them by adding sulfur crystals and bitumen to the fire. This filled the tunnel with toxic sulfur dioxide gas. James' "crime scene" also included the skeleton of a Persian soldier, lying alone. "Probably, he is the man who set the fire. He lingered too long to ensure it was alight, and was himself overcome by fumes from the bitumen and sulfur he used to start the blaze," James told Discovery News. According to Adrienne Mayor, a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Department of Classics and History of Science, most of the reconstruction of the underground battle mentioned in James' study "were already revealed by major excavations in 1920 to 1937 by teams from France and Yale University, and after 1986 by French-Syrian teams." Mayor described the skirmish in the tunnel and the presence of burnt residue in her 2003 book "Greek Fire, Poison, Arrows and Scorpion Bombs." "But James adds vivid new details, based on his careful analysis of the evidence. His real breakthrough is the remarkable fact that the Persian deliberately created a chemical weapon," Mayor told Discovery News. The Persians failed to bring the walls down but somehow broke into the city. It was the end for Dura: Defenders and inhabitants were slaughtered or deported to Persia. Related Links: |
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