TUNIC
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pyrotechne
chronic
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Hercules created the first chemical weapon when he dipped his arrows in the blood of the Hydra. He used these arrows (toxicon, the Greek for poison, comes from toxon, arrow) on a troop of centaurs, who then took refuge in the cave of Chiron, the old centaur who had taught humans the use of medicine. Hercules accidentally wounds Chiron in the leg with one of these arrows. Chiron, who is immortal, begs to give up his immortality so that he can be rid of the pain. The gods agree that Chiron's immortality can be assumed by Prometheus.
Phosphrous poisoning is distinct from thermal burn damage in its ability to cause liver damage.
Nessus, another centaur, abducts Hercules' wife Deianeira. Hercules shoots him in the back with one of these poisoned arrows. Nessus convinces Deianeira to collect his blood in an airtight container, stored away from heat and light, and to use it to anoint a tunic which she can give to Hercules as a love-charm. Hercules wears it as he makes a sacrifice. Approaching the fire, Hercules activates the poison. The pain which ensues is so great that he builds his own funeral pyre, and climbs on to be burned alive. He gives the cursed bow and quiver of arrows to Philoctetes.
Medeia lived in Colchis, between the Black and Caspain Seas. She sent to Glauke a mgic garment, which, when she put it on, burst into flames and consumed her.
Colchis: where in the sacred grove of the war god Ares, King Aeetes hung the Golden Fleece; where Prometheus was chained to the rock for revealing to humanity the secret of fire. It was considered "the farthest voyage" according to an ancient Greek proverbial expression, the easternmost location in that society's known world, where the sun rose.
Now Baku: where in 1873 the Nobels participated in the foundation of the international oil industry.
the tunica molesta: public execution by a naphtha-soaked "shirt of torture", devised by Nero in 64 CE. The spectacle continued through the third century.
Samuel Jones sold Promethean matches from his shop, The Light House, in the Strand. These were tiny sealed glass tubes of concentrated sulphuric acid, wrapped in paper impregnated with sulphur, sugar, and Postassium Chlorate. When the tube was crushed with pliers, acid was released, and the paper would burn.
