We’ve all seen movies where archers draw back flaming arrows and launch them into the ranks of their hapless enemies. Hollywood might overuse the trope, but it is based on historical reality.

Arrows are perfect vehicles for delivering incendiary missiles. The earliest and simplest incendiary missiles were arrows wrapped in combustible plant fibers such as flax, hemp, straw (called tow), cocoa fiber, jute, oakum, etc. The first chemical used was pine pitch which burns hot, resists water, and lets off black, toxic fumes. Firedarts were used by the Romans in the fourth century BCE by filling the hollow space in cane shafts with petroleum material such as tar, naphtha, and asphalt. These darts were lit and shot from low-weight bows at the target so that the velocity of the arrow wouldn’t put out the flames.^[1]

Combustible material tied to the tips of arrows could be dipped in mixtures of “varnish, oil and petroleum, colophon,” and sulfur which produced chemical-driven fires that were difficult to put out. Other mixtures included “pastes of powdered plant fibers mixed with resins, dung, charcoal, zinc,” lead, and wax.^[2]

English fire arrows were made as follows:

“8 parts bruised gunpowder, 1 part saltpeter in the crystal form, 1 part saltpeter in loose form, 1 part sulfur in loose form, 3 parts rosin in the crystal form, 1 part turpentine, 1 part linseed oil, ½ part verdigrease (acetate of copper), 1/3 part bole Armeniac (earthy material from Armenia), 1/3 part bay salt (from the Bay of Biscay), and 1/6 part colophonia (made from a distillation of turpentine and water). If the maker thought it appropriate, arsenic (1/8 part) could also be added. A molten solution of pitch, linseed oil, sulfur, tar, and tallow was then prepared and poured over the concoction. When it was cold, it was secured to the arrow stele, covered with light canvas, and tied into position. Holes were then bored in front, fine powder was rammed in, and a fuse was fitted. Now it was ready for action!”^[3]

A seventeenth-century incendiary arrow was made of a 10.5 inch iron shaft with a broadhead on one end and a socket on the other. A bag of combustible material was tied to the center 5 inches of the shaft and was fitted with a fuse.^[4] In India, burning arrows were used against war elephants, and special brass balls filled with naphtha were used to set fire to houses.^[5] Arrows could also be used to deliver bags of caustic lime powder aboard enemy vessels.^[6]

Fire arrows weren’t particularly useful on open battlefields unless the enemy was standing in oil or fields of dry grain. But they were very effective in naval warfare, where ships were often covered in pine tar and other resins to waterproof them. The tar and resin, of course, burned readily. They were also useful in assaulting cities and castles. Thatched roofs burn quickly, and hot and fires inside a castle would not only kill some of the inhabitants, but it would also distract the defenders who rushed to put out the flames, demoralize them, and undermine the structural integrity of the defenses.

In Archer of the Heathland, Redmond learned to use fire with arrows from Kamil. The method I described comes from Middle Eastern archery manuals. It consisted of placing a goose egg filled with combustibles into a copper cone filled with grass and a red hot pebble to ignite the contents on impact. The copper cone was attached to the tip of the arrow which was tied to the bowstring so that when the string snapped it would launch the copper cone onto the target. Fire arrows might be overdone in Hollywood and often used incorrectly, but they look cool and they were a normal part of ancient warfare. 

If you want to take a look, try the prequel Archer of the Heathland: Intrigue

Or Book 1 in the series Archer of the Heathland: Deliverance where Redmond first used fire arrows.

^[1]. Mayor, Greek Fire, 209-210, 213.

^[2]. Mayor, Greek Fire, 214, 233.

^[3]. Soar, The Crooked Stick, 115-116.

^[4]. Soar, Straight and True, 132.

^[5]. Soar, Straight and True, 56.

^[6]. Soar, Straight and True, 78.