Biological and chemical weapons have gone out of use due to the inability to control them and the inhuman effects they have on their targets. But as Machiavelli wrote, “When it is absolutely a question of the safety of one’s country, there must be no consideration of just or unjust, of merciful or cruel, of praiseworthy or disgraceful; instead, setting aside every scruple, one must follow to the utmost any plan that will save her life and keep her liberty.”

SEE ALSO: 10 Social And Biological Experiments With Freaky Results

10Siege Of Kirrha
590 BC

During the First Sacred War (Cirraean War) between the Amphictyonic League of Delphi and the city of Kirrha in Greece, chemical weaponry was employed to devastating effect. The war broke out as a result of Kirrha’s constant assault on the pilgrims passing through their lands to Delphi. The Amphictyonic League began their assault of the city by first poisoning its water supply with the toxic plant hellebore.

The plant’s high toxicity can cause vertigo, swelling of the tongue and throat, a feeling of suffocation, severe gastrointestinal problems, and cardiac arrest resulting in death. The plant did its job well, and the majority of the city was struck with severe bouts of diarrhea. The besiegers were able to walk into the city without facing any resistance.

9Dura-Europos
256 BC

When the Roman Army is at the gates, a defender will use just about any method or means to keep them at bay. Sasanian soldiers at Dura-Europos in modern Syria used bitumen ignited with sulfur within a tunnel the Romans were using to attempt entry into the city. The gas was so effective, it killed 19 Roman soldiers in under two minutes. The city was soon abandoned following the siege and remained uninhabited to this day, making it an important archaeological site due to the preservation of buildings and artifacts.

Due to the site’s preservation, archaeologists found chemical residue of sulfur crystals as well as the remains of the Roman soldiers plus one Sasanian, likely the individual who deployed the sulfur-bitumen concoction.

8Third Mithridatic War
73–63 BC

Mithridates (“the Poisoner King”) poisoned his mother and took various poisons himself to acquire an immunity over time. During his ongoing conflict with Rome, he often employed the use of poisoned arrows to thwart his enemies. During the third Mithridatic War, he used special arrows dipped in snake venom that would break off when they struck, leaving the metal tip coated with venom in the wound. The toxin would be fatal but would take days of agony to kill a man.

While retreating into modern Georgia, Mithridates left poisoned honey for the Romans to find. When consumed, the men would hallucinate and could even die from the consumption. There were not many casualties resulting from the honey, but such a large number of soldiers were high and hallucinating from the poison that they were useless for nearly a week.

7Siege Of Hatra
198

When Septimus Severus of the Imperial Roman legion attacked Hatra in 198, his soldiers scaled the walls to a very innovative weapon: terracotta pots filled with deadly scorpions. The men scaling the walls had the pots break open on and around them, releasing the scorpions as well as other stinging insects such as wasps and bees.

Some of the men died from the stings, while others became ill and perished due to the combination of the hot sun and the bites and stings. Scorpion bombs proved incredibly effective, and Septimus retreated, what remained of his army defeated.

6Battle Of Tortona
1155

The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, known as Barbarossa, assaulted Tortona during his Italian Campaign. Barbarossa personally undertook the attack of the city so that he could instigate their Milanese allies following their submission to his dominance of the peninsula.

He poisoned wells, bringing about numerous problems for the inhabitants of the city, the worst of which was a famine that crippled the population. This coincided with an ongoing drought, which made the unpotable well water an even greater problem. Barbarossa allowed the citizens to leave Tortona, and then he burned it to the ground. Modern residents of the city reenact the siege during a yearly celebration of the history of the town, which draws tourists from all over to enjoy the festivities.

5Battle Of Sandwich
1217

To repel an invading French fleet, the English navy under the command of Baron William D’Albiney used quicklime (calcium oxide), which he stocked aboard his vessels. He purposefully moved his ships upwind of the French and then let loose with the noxious compound into the wind so that the French were almost immediately blinded by the large cloud encompassing their ships.

Unable to defend themselves, they became an easy target for the English navy. The English sailors quickly stormed the French ships and slaughtered all but the knights due to the ransom they could receive. D’Albiney had long maintained a stock of calcium oxide on his vessels for just such an attack, but the Battle of Sandwich may have been the first time he was able to deploy it.

4Siege Of Kaffa
1346

During the siege of Kaffa in 1346, the invading Tatar army (part of the Mongolian Army of Genghis Khan) suffered an outbreak of the Bubonic plague. Never wanting to let an opportunity to devastate their enemy pass them by, the Tatars flung the corpses of their fallen plague-stricken brethren over the city walls to purposely infect their enemy. The plan worked, and the inhabitants of Kaffa were forced to surrender their city to the Mongol invaders.

It is believed that some of the survivors of the initial attack left Kaffa for Constantinople and other ports in the Mediterranean, which contributed to the pandemic known as the Black Death.

3Naples, Italy
1495

Spanish soldiers engaged in fighting throughout southern Italy used a method of biological warfare against their enemies that worked somewhat well. They added the blood of people afflicted with leprosy to bottles of wine they sold to the Italians. This was particularly dastardly due to the common perception that leprosy was a curse and punishment from God due to the disfiguring effects of the disease.

This method of biological warfare played the long game due to the manner in which leprosy spreads. The infection is long-term and can remain asymptomatic in a person’s body for between five and 20 years. This was not a very effective method of debilitating enemy soldiers and was likely done more for the stigma associated with leprosy than anything else.

2Siege Of Groningen
1672

During the Franco-Dutch War, Christoph Bernhard van Galen, the Bishop of Munster, used belladonna alkaloids contained within various forms of explosives and incendiary devices against his enemy. Atropa belladonna is more commonly known as deadly nightshade and is extremely toxic. Ingesting the alkaloids from the berries and leaves can cause severe delirium and hallucinations.

Van Galen’s use of deadly nightshade in warfare led to the first international agreement between nations, called the Strasbourg Agreement, to ban the use of “perfidious and odius” toxic devices. The Strasbourg Agreement came into being primarily due to the use of poisoned bullets employed by van Galen three years prior. The Strasbourg Agreement would remain the only such document until the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which included the banning of biological weapons.

1Siege Of Fort Pitt
1763

An outbreak of smallpox in the Ohio Valley was the result of an attack on the local natives in 1763 by the British Colonists besieged within Fort Pitt. Native American emissaries to the Fort received gifts, which came out of a smallpox infirmary with the hopes of spreading the disease to their populations. The emissaries pleaded with the colonists to vacate the fort due to overwhelming odds against them, but their attempts met with refusal and ultimately their deaths.

General Amherst said on July 8, “Could it not be contrived to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tribes of Indians? We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them.” The British plan was very successful in deterring Native aggression due to the overwhelming infection spreading through their communities as a result of the attack.

The spread of infection didn’t stop at Fort Pitt. The Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes carried the disease throughout the southeast. Thousands were infected as a result of the siege at Fort Pitt.

+Further Reading

If this list hasn’t depressed and horrified you enough, check out these fascinating articles from the archives:

10 Biochemical Attacks That Were Stopped Just In Time
10 Dark Facts About The Worst Chemical Terror Attack In History
10 Poisons And Their Horrifying Effects
Top 10 Obsolete Weapons That Were Shockingly Deadly

Cutting-edge technology allows researchers to get creative with their goals. Quirkiness in the name of science is bound to produce something unusual. From octopuses that are plied with Ecstasy and people reading each other’s thoughts to a reality that exists only when looked at, scientists are breaking new ground.

However, as with all experiments, not everything was wholesome. Some results showed disturbing human-robot relationships and worse—the tendency to torture a helpless victim existed even in those who thought they were incapable.

10 Goats Like Happy People

Goats are known for their smarts. In 2018, an experiment with 20 animals revealed another cognitive ability. They can tell people’s facial expressions apart. The plucky creatures were trained to walk over to the far side of the pen, where they received snacks.

During the second phase, two images were tacked to the back. The photos included men and women, none of whom the goats had ever met in real life. One picture always contained a smiling person and the other, a grumpy frown. The animals were shown only male or female faces, and the pictures were moved around to the left and right sides of the enclosure.

Gender appeared to make no difference to the goats, which preferred to sniff at the happy faces. Curiously, they only picked the positive images posted on the right side of the pen.^[1]

This suggested that the left hemisphere of a goat’s brain deals with friendly cues. It remains unclear how goats understand the facial communication of another species, but this test provided the first evidence that they are capable of doing so.

9 The Four-Day Week

Many employees dread their work environment, especially when companies put profits ahead of workers’ needs. In 2018, one New Zealand company made a radical change. For two months, the trusts firm Perpetual Guardian gave its workforce full pay for four-day weeks.

The unique experiment aimed to determine whether reduced office hours had a positive or negative impact on business. Most business owners would view it as risky, but the results were incredible.

The staff’s stress levels dropped from 45 to 38 percent. Even healthier, their work-life balance increased from 54 to 78 percent. The most remarkable finding was that productivity showed a small improvement despite the shorter weeks. Additionally, there was an increase in the commitment and positive relationships among staff. Leadership improved, and people actually enjoyed what they were doing.

The experiment created something that is rarely seen today—a team fiercely loyal to a company that cares for them. Perpetual Guardian now wants to make the four-day week permanent.^[2]

8 Octopuses On Ecstasy

A bizarre-sounding experiment happened in 2018. Researchers gathered two octopuses, two Star Wars action figures, and some Ecstasy (aka MDMA). This drug is known to flood human brains with serotonin and turn them into social cuddle bears.

Octopuses are grouchy loners. When sober, they avoided their own kind and the toys in their tank. When high on Ecstasy, they behaved just like people and got chummy with their fellow octopuses as well as Chewbacca and a stormtrooper.

The lovestruck tentacles revealed something unexpected. The brain of an octopus and that of a human do not even have the same regions. The two groups, vertebrates and invertebrates, separated over 500 million years ago. But surprisingly, a single gene in the genomes of humans and the eight-tentacled wonders matched perfectly.^[3]

SLC6A4 is the genetic binding site of Ecstasy, which is likely why both species develop a rosy, loving outlook on life once drugged with MDMA. Nobody really expected the socially linked genetic and neurological pathways of people to exist in other creatures.

7 Rogue Kidneys

These days, scientists grow organoids—miniature versions of real human organs. In 2018, a laboratory sprouted some mini kidneys from stem cells. After four weeks of nourishing the growths in a chemical soup, they were ready.

This soup was designed to encourage the stem cells to grow only specialized kidney cells. Once the organoids were fully grown, researchers took a peek at what was happening inside them. Then the surprise hit.

For some reason, the tiny kidneys had gone rogue and also produced brain and muscle cells. These cellular oddballs accounted for up to 20 percent of the organoids’ makeup.

As interesting as Frankenstein organs are, it was a setback. Organoids are valuable as tools to study diseases, but if they do not model a real human kidney, any information gleaned would most likely be skewed.

Another unexpected discovery was that the lab-grown kidneys refused to mature, no matter how they were farmed. This was also problematic for disease studies as longer exposure to the soup caused more rogue cells.^[4]

6 Children Believe Misleading Robots

The Asch experiment is a social conformity test disguised as a vision exam. In 2018, researchers put their own spin on it. Around 43 kids, aged seven to nine, were required to find two equally long lines on a screen. The answer was obvious. When alone, the children proved correct 87 percent of the time.^[5]

Then the robots came. Whenever the child was asked to pick lines, a robot would helpfully provide the incorrect answer. Even though the right answer was easy, the kids doubted themselves and looked to the machines for answers. They did this so often that the success rate fell to 75 percent. They just followed the robots’ leads, sometimes word for word.

When 60 adults were tested in the same way, they ignored the robots. The children probably experienced “automation bias,” a powerful belief that machines have greater abilities than they really do. Researchers suspect that the adults, unaffected by the toylike robots, might have folded if they were bigger and more imposing.

5 The Tokyo Explosion

Scientists have been trying to make bigger magnetic fields for decades. Huge ones have been created, but their strength was too much for an indoor setting. However, measuring fields that are created outside fails in the accuracy department.

In 2018, Tokyo physicists built an armored room to contain what they hoped would be the strongest controlled magnetic field created under laboratory conditions. Such fields are graded in teslas. The strongest MRI machine creates three teslas, and the Tokyo team aimed for 700.^[6]

Instead, their electromagnetic device erupted with 1,200 teslas. This unexpected development made it the strongest controlled field, although “controlled” only meant being able to measure its power. The actual event blew apart the laboratory’s armored doors, right after it crumpled the iron box in which it was kept.

Despite the fright and damaged property the team got, the 1,200 teslas was a step toward limitless, clean energy. Nuclear fusion reactors need only a 1,000-tesla magnetic field to change the world’s energy crisis. Scientists now have a strong-enough field. They just need to determine how to stop the explosions.

4 Measurement Creates Reality

In 1978, physicists proposed that reality did not exist until measured. It sounded weird back then, but in 2015, the technology arrived to prove it. Australian scientists tweaked a famous theoretical experiment from the 1970s and showed that the quantum world honored this strange law.

The experiment took a single helium atom and sent it through laser barriers (the points of measurement) to see if it acted like a wave or a particle. Logic dictates that its very nature would be preexisting and that measurement could not make it behave in any other way.^[7]

However, as bizarre as it sounds, the tests showed that the atom could not decide whether it wanted to be a wave or a particle until it encountered the lasers. To start its journey, the helium atom was sent through a pair of beams meant to scatter its path.

At a later point during its travels, random lasers were added to merge the paths again. This second measurement somehow brought into existence the atom’s preference for wave- or particle-like behavior.

3 The Murdered Robot

Once upon a time (2015), there was a robot called hitchBOT. He had one ambition: to travel as far as he could by hitching rides with strangers. For two weeks, the friendly machine enjoyed the charity of drivers and clocked the longest journey ever made by its kind.

After he had traveled over 10,000 kilometers (6,200 mi) in Canada and enjoyed the views of several cities in Germany, hitchBOT wanted to see the whole of the United States of America. Had the electronic wanderer had parents, they would have warned him about the dangers of hitchhiking.

Instead, hitchBOT’s designers created him as an experiment to see how far human kindness would take him and how people interacted with a robot without supervision. Around the beginning of his great American adventure, he set off for San Francisco—and disappeared.^[8]

His decapitated body was found in Philadelphia. It had been thrown into a ditch. Worse, his killer had had fun. The person had also removed hitchBOT’s arms and rearranged them around the robot’s body.

2 BrainNet

In 2018, neuroscientists managed to connect the brains of three people. They could play a Tetris-type game just by sharing thoughts. This “network” was dubbed BrainNet.

The participants did not actually read one another’s thoughts. However, thanks to electroencephalograms (EEGs) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), they could communicate. Two participants were the “senders” and wore EEG electrodes. A third person had a TMS cap and was the “receiver.”

The senders played each other, but only the third person could move the blocks. When a player wished to rotate a block, he stared at one of two LEDs on the screen. The flashing lights triggered signals in the brain, which got picked up by the EEG and relayed to the TMS cap. The latter’s magnetic field created phantom flashes in the receiver’s mind—a sign to rotate the block.

With a success rate of just over 80 percent, scientists hope to one day create a social network of interfaced brains, possibly over the web.^[9]

1 The Milgram Experiment

Stanley Milgram discovered a disturbing corner of the human mind. During the 1960s, this social psychologist tested how far people would go when ordered by an authority figure to electrocute another person. Most participants obeyed. The Milgram experiment was a turning point in the study of obedience and social psychology.

In 2017, researchers wanted to see if individuals today would shelve empathy for authoritative approval. Most would think themselves incapable of responding to such influence.

A recent Polish study recruited 80 people for a “memory experiment.” Their job was to shock learners who failed to memorize associations. The shocks were never real. The participants did not know this or that the “learners” were actors.

About 10 levers delivered increasingly higher voltage shocks. The participants were told to zap learners who failed to memorize something, and an authority figure encouraged those who became hesitant when the shocks grew more powerful (and they had to listen to screams). Although participants were three times less likely to use stronger shocks on female learners, a disturbing 90 percent went all the way.^[10]

Biological mimicry is when ones species evolves to look like another. Sometimes, one organism will additionally take on the behavior and mannerisms of the other. They end up looking so similar that it is difficult to tell them apart, even though they are totally unrelated.

Animals do this for many reasons. Often, it has to do with predation. Some prey animals take on the look of some other, more dangerous animal that their own predators avoid. Conversely, a predator may mimic an animal that its prey doesn’t fear.

10 Hornets And Hornet Moths

We all know hornets can deliver quite painful stings. Several species belonging to the Sesia genus, such as Sesia apiformis, have evolved to mimic hornets in look and behavior. These copycat moths are called hornet moths, for obvious reasons.

S. apiformis has the distinctive yellow and black markings of a hornet. It is also around the same size as a regular hornet and has a similar wingspan. The moth has also learned to take off in a haphazard manner, just as a hornet would, the moment it spots a threat.

There are a few differences between the hornet and hornet moth, though. The moth is yellower than a hornet and lacks a waist, even though hornets have waists in between their thoraxes and abdomens. The wings of the moth are also transparent. This last part only becomes discernible in flight, and most people and animals do not hang out long enough to find out, anyway.^[1]

9 Ladybirds And Ladybird Spiders

Spiders are so amazing they have a popular fictional superhero named after them. The ladybird (aka ladybug) is special, too. It does not have its own superhero, but it does have real spiders named after it. These spiders belong to the genus Paraplectana. They are a group of spiders that have evolved to look like like ladybirds.

The mimicry is necessary, considering that many predatory birds avoid ladybirds. This is because ladybirds contain toxic chemicals that emit a terrible odor when crushed and leave a nasty, lingering taste in the mouth of the bird. This had made many birds develop a strong distaste for the ladybird. Aside from spiders, a few other insects, like the ladybird-mimic fungus beetle, have also evolved to look like ladybirds.^[2]

8 Jumping Spiders And Metalmark Moths

The metalmark moth (Brenthia coronigera) does not mimic just any random insect or spider but its predator, the jumping spider. The moths are so good at mimicry that jumping spiders mistake them for other jumping spiders. Smaller jumping spiders even flee from the moths over fears that they could be eaten.

The metalmark moth doesn’t just resemble the jumping spider in looks. It also moves in a manner resembling jumping spiders instead of just fluttering around like most moths do. Male jumping spiders get so fooled that they become attracted to the moths and display courtship behavior by raising their two front legs toward the moth.

Researchers who have studied the effectiveness of this mimicry say the moth needs to have its wings in the right position for the ruse to be effective. The black dots on its wings resemble a jumping spider’s eyes, while the rest of it mimics the spider’s body. Several experiments indicate that the spider will recognize the moth as prey if it does not display its wings or if any part of it is concealed.^[3]

7 Ants And Spider Ants

Ant mimicry (also called myrmecomorphy) is found in quite a few spider species. In fact, about 300 species of spiders take on the appearance of one ant or another. The mimicry serves two purposes. One is to deceive the ants, and the other is to deceive its predators, which will usually avoid ants.

These copycat spiders have spots that resemble the compound eyes of ants. They also have reflective hairs that make their thorax and abdomens look like those of ants. Most even walk in zigzag manners as an ant would. To appear more convincing, they make periodic stops and move their two front legs close to their heads to imitate an ant’s antennae.

Spiders like the ground spider mimic ants to deceive other ants. The spider hunts and kills isolated ants before dragging the body off while pretending to be just another ant trying to help the dead ant. The crab spider does the same thing, except that it drags the ant with a web. This allows it an easy escape if its ruse is discovered.

Other spiders mimic ants to avoid getting eaten by ants, spiders, and birds that consider them prey. These spiders also behave like ants to confuse their predators. They even build their nests close to the ants they mimic. This works because ants regularly fight off larger predators despite their smaller size. These predators have learned to avoid the ants—along with spiders disguised as ants.^[4]

6 Rove Beetles And Army Ants

About 12 species of parasitic rove beetles are currently looking like one species of army ant or another. Most army ant colonies have one rove beetle per 5,000 army ants. The rove beetle does this to gain access into the ant colony, where it feeds on the ants’ larvae.

Their bodies have evolved to the point where they look so much like the real thing that even humans cannot tell them apart at a glance. Army ants cannot either, even when they touch the beetles, as they often do.

To be clear, most army ants are blind and actually recognize their colony mates through chemical and tactile cues. The beetles have this covered, too. They clean other ants just to get access to the chemicals the ants use for identification. This makes the beetles undetectable, even by scent. To appear more convincing, the rove beetle participates in every activity with the ants and even follows them on raids.

Scientists say the resemblance between both creatures is fascinating, considering that their last common ancestor was 105 million years ago. That is a really long time, even for evolution. Most creatures with similar characteristics diverged much more recently. In fact, 105 million years ago is when our distant evolutionary ancestors diverged from mice.^[5]

5 Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasses And False Cleanerfish

As you should have guessed from the name, cleaner fish strip other fish clean of harmful and parasitic organisms on their bodies. The relationship is considered mutually beneficial. The cleaner fish get food, while the fish that get cleaned are saved from harmful parasites.

The blue streak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus, left above) is one of the many cleaner fish around. However, the false cleanerfish (Aspidontus tractus, right above) has evolved to look like the blue streak cleaner wrasse. Both fish look and behave so similarly that they are hard to tell apart.

The false cleanerfish runs fake cleaner stations about a meter away from the blue streak cleaner wrasse’s real ones. Sometimes, it even has a couple of real cleaner wrasses around just to appear more convincing. When an unsuspecting fish comes in, the false cleanerfish pretends to be cleaning before biting off a chunk and darting away.^[6]

4 Pit Vipers And Hawk Moth Caterpillars

Hemeroplanes triptolemus is a hawk moth that lives in the forests of Central America. The caterpillar of the species is capable of mimicking pit vipers to send would-be predators fleeing. When threatened, the caterpillar faces the aggressor as a true pit viper would. Then it withdraws its legs and extends the front of its body in such a way that it puffs up to resemble the head of a pit viper.

To complete the mimicry, the caterpillar mimics viper-like curves, scales, and eyes. For lifelike effects, it also throws jabs like a real viper. The appearance is so convincing that it even fools humans. Birds and other caterpillars trying to eat this caterpillar don’t hang around long enough to wonder where the rest of the “viper’s” body went.^[7]

3 Common Wasps And Marmalade Hoverflies

The marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) is often confused with the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris, also called the common yellow-jacket) because of their similar body coloration. Both have black and yellow markings, which make them indistinguishable to their predators and even humans. They look so alike that quite a few people screamed and fled when marmalade hoverflies swarmed several British beaches in 2004.

The common wasp got the color first. The marmalade hoverfly is the copycat. Wasps are generally feared for their painful stings. In humans, those stings can cause anaphylactic shock, which can lead to death. The marmalade hoverfly is harmless but mimics the wasps for protection against its many predators, including birds.

There are differences between the common wasp and the marmalade hoverfly despite their extensive similarities. Wasps have four wings, while hoverflies have just two. Wasps also have waists in between their thoraxes and abdomens, while marmalade hoverflies have none. Hoverflies also tend to fly sideways, which wasps rarely do.^[8]

2 Flesh Flies And Fly-Mimicking Weevils

As you should have guessed, the aptly named fly-mimicking weevil (Timorus sarcophagoides) is weevil that looks like a fly, specificity flesh flies from the Sarcophagidae family. The weevils’ body coloration and markings are similar to the flies’. They also have two large reddish dots on their thorax that look like the eyes of a fly.

The fly-mimicking weevil executes the mimicry so well that it even moves and rubs its legs together as flesh flies do. The idea is to trick potential predators into believing they are flesh flies.

You see, flesh flies are very fast, and birds generally avoid chasing after them because they are difficult to catch. The fly-mimicking weevil is much slower, so the disguise is necessary to make the birds think they are not easy prey. As a result, potential predators just move on to invest their time on other, “slower” insects.

However, the ruse does not always work on entomologists, who will often want to inspect the weevil. The weevil quickly realizes the game is up and just retracts its legs and rolls over until it falls to the ground, pretending to be dead. A very clever insect we have here.^[9]

1 Nymphister Kronaueri Masquerades As Part Of An Army Ant

Some new creature always pops up whenever we think we’ve seen it all. What do we make of the so-called ant lovers (aka myrmecophiles), a group of organisms that just love to hang around ants? Scientists are not sure why they do, but they think it has a lot to do with the fact that ants are good at finding food.

Nymphister kronaueri is one of these ant lovers. The beetle attaches itself in between the thorax and abdomen of army ants without being noticed. The beetle gets a free ride, along with the free food it probably already receives from the ants. Scientists have also observed that the beetle prefers to attach itself to the bodies of medium-sized ants. They do not know why but think it has to do with N. kronaueri wanting to trick the ant into thinking it is actually a part of the ant’s abdomen.^[10]

CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological) Warfare seems like a modern invention, however it has its roots back to Ancient times. It was originally described in the Greek Myths, as Hercules dipped arrows in venom and plagues were unleashed upon armies. Perhaps it was those tales that inspired some of these heinous creations.

By today’s standards this may be the most inhumane form of warfare, however battle commanders and generals have always sought many ways to take advantage of the opposing forces. This often involved utilizing any means necessary. Gruesome, painful, and cruel, this list describes poison plants, venom, primitive incendiary devices, and more grizzly tactics used in ancient warfare.

10 Alleged Secret Weapons Of The US Military

10 Poison Arrows

One of the first places the ancients looked to for poisons was in botanical sources. Ancient Greeks and Romans knew of at least 2 dozen dangerous plants, these were often used for medicinal purposes and through trial and errors proper dosages were discovered. Many of them were beneficial in small amounts but became toxic in larger doses. One of the most popular plants was known as Hellebore, an all-purpose medicinal plant commonly prescribed by early doctors. These plants were not easy to gather and those who collected them were known to occasionally fall ill and die. In heavy doses it caused muscle cramps, convulsions, delirium, and heart attacks, this made Hellebore an excellent choice for arrow poisons.^[1]

9 Contaminating Water

Hellebore was not just useful for poisoning arrows, in this account the Greeks used it in a more sinister way. During the First Sacred War, around 590 BC, besiegers of the strongly fortified city of Kirrha cut the water pipes leading into the city. After which they gathered a large quantity of Hellebore and placed it in in the water source. Once the townsfolk were suffering from intense thirst, they reconnected the water supply, now poisoned. The Kirrhans became violently sick to their stomachs and were so weakened by diarrhea that they took the city without opposition. Depending on the account this military strategy has been attributed to at least 4 different Generals, but whoever contrived this plan was a twisted, yet effective leader.^[2]

8 Catapulting Corpses

Perhaps the most common story of Ancient Bio Warfare stems from this account. In 1346 the Mongols had an outbreak of Bubonic Plague amongst their troops. It did not take long for them to learn that proximity to a victim or corpse would spread the disease, so naturally they realized they could weaponize it. A few catapult shots later and the city of Kaffa was littered with plague-ridden corpses of the Mongols own troops. This would be the introduction of the dreaded disease to Europe. Spreading disease was not the only desired effect of this tactic. The psychological effects that it had on the opposing troops was demoralizing and terrifying. The idea for this type of warfare has always been to incite panic and fear, and this tactic no doubt accomplished that well.^[3]

7 Envenomated swords

While poisonous plants and herbs were effective for certain regions, during Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Middle East an even deadlier method was discovered. In 326 BC Alexander and his army arrived at the fortified city of Harmatelia, which was most likely located in modern day Pakistan. Reportedly the Harmatelians were oddly confident in their victory, the Greeks soon learned the reason why. Their swords and arrowhead were coated with a drug of mortal effect, it was said that even a small scratch would kill a man. This poison was derived from snakes, most likely a type of viper. These snakes were killed and left to rot in the sun, as the heat decomposed the flesh the venom mixed with the liquefying tissue. Descriptions of the poison’s effects are vivid. A wounded man immediately went numb, suffering stabbing pains and convulsions, next their skin became cold and they vomited bile. It is stated that black froth spewed from the wound and gangrene spread rapidly, bringing a horrible death.^[4]

6 Lime Dust

Several forms of toxic smoke and gasses were implemented by ancient people. Burning noxious items to create clouds of smoke to deter opponents was common, it was however hard to control, as a shift in the wind could cause this to fail miserably. The Chinese developed an interesting way to manage this. In AD 178 China used an early form of tear gas to quell an armed peasant revolt. Powdered limestone dust was equipped on horse drawn chariots with bellows attached to blow the dust forward with the wind. When the dust interacts with moist membranes such as the eyes and nose, the effects are corrosive, blinding and suffocating those inhaling it. This tactic created an effective fog, this combined with stampeding horses, loud gongs and drums the rioters were thrown into chaos and overwhelmed. Methods such as this are still used to this day, with modern tear gas or pepper spray, and while the wind can still be a problem modern gas masks have minimized this threat.^[5]

Top 10 Nonlethal Weapons That Are Actually Lethal

5 Beehive bombs

Among the first projectile weapons used in warfare were hornet nests and beehives. Swarms of bees had been known to invade cities, forcing evacuations, this led to a natural realization that the stinging pest could be used to repel attackers. Of course, there was danger in this for both parties. Tales suggest hornets’ nests were plugged with mud and carefully transported, and bees were persuaded to colonize special containers. Using smoke to tranquilize bees was a tactic known since antiquity, there is also evidence of special powders to calm the insects before release. In World War 1 tripwires were set up along the enemy’s route that would release hives. During a siege, nests were thrown into tunnels dug by the besiegers to deter their advance. Deploying stinging insects can be dated back to biblical times and even as recently as the Vietnam War where Vietcong soldiers set up booby-traps with Asian honeybees against American soldiers.^[6]

4 Flaming arrows

As early as the 9th century accounts describing the use of flaming arrows exist. The first of these incendiary missiles were simply arrows wrapped in plant material such as straw or hemp. In early times these were highly effective against wooden wall and structures, however as time progressed, they became less efficient. They had no effect on stone walls and could be easily snuffed out with water. The search began for chemical additives that could cause the fires to burn fiercer and become more resistant to dousing with water. The earliest additive was pitch, flammable resin tapped from pine trees. This sticky sap achieved the desired effects. Arrows dipped in the sap and ignited burned hotter and longer than their counterparts. This led to other uses, soon pitch would be poured onto invading attackers and lit bags of pitch were hurled down from the tops of walls. Also, useful to combat siege engines these tactics were used for hundreds of years.^[7]

3 Toxic honey

In perhaps the strangest tale not one but 2 invading armies were defeated, hundreds of years apart not by a weapon, but by a delicious treat. In 401 BC in the land of Colchis (near modern Turkey) Xenophon, a hoplite commander, stopped his men at a seemingly perfect place to camp. The Colchian village was well stocked with food and even offered the special treat of wild honey, which the hungry soldiers soon found and raided. Soon after the troops succumbed to a strange affliction, delirious and behaving like intoxicated madmen, they soon were collapsing by the thousands. The men were completely incapacitated and some even died. This mad honey was produced by bees that collected nectar from poisonous rhododendron blossoms. Even today a small spoonful is added to milk or alcoholic beverages for an additional kick, however one not familiar with the effects can easily overdose. 4 centuries later this would happen again to a Roman army in the same region. It is often speculated the other ways in which this honey may have been used in warfare.^[8]

2 Scorpion Bombs

Wasps and Bees were not the only insects weaponized in combat, reports also describe the use of scorpions, assassin bugs, and various beetles. These creatures were abundant in the desert and were utilized against the Romans during their attempts at controlling Mesopotamia. In the fortified city of Hatra, the citizens prepared a strong defense against the Roman invaders, clay pot “bombs” filled with scorpions. These earthenware pots were then sealed and dropped onto the invading forces. The Scorpions reportedly lurked under every stone and clod of dirt and the King would reward those who could kill the most to ensure safe travels. Bites from these insects was said to be incredibly painful inflicting a lingering death that would last three days, this was accompanied by great agitation, sweating, convulsions, and swollen genitals. Certainly, something that once witnessed would incite paranoia.^[9]

1 Greek Fire

One of the most devastating ancient weapons ever described was the notorious Greek Fire. This was reportedly based on the development of an effective distillation and siphoning pump technologies. This allowed a flammable mixture to be pressurized and pumped from boats, creating a launch-able stream of liquid fire. The main ingredient of the mixture was said to be Naphtha, a chemical that had been used in firebombs and dumped off castle walls for years. Pumping pressurized and distilled Naphtha through tubes aimed at ships was certainly a brilliant feat of engineering for the time, and the exact delivery method was a heavily guarded secret and is now lost to time. Resembling modern Napalm, this would have been a terrifying weapon to deal with, the only defenses described included draping the ship in wet hides, only sailing in stormy weather, or attempting dangerous evasive maneuvers.^[10]

10 Prototype Weapons Too Insane To Use

About The Author: Brad D Fuller is a retired US Navy Sailor living in small town Ohio. He is also a Board Game Designer and Collector.