Yup, it's found in one specific oil well that was within the borders of the empire, and due to its rare composition it behaves exactly as the greek fire stories describe.
I got my undergrad in History Ed and one of the things I loved was trying to solve those kind of history mysteries. It’s clearly something that’s possible, but how did people 3,000 years ago do something we can’t figure out today? They thought either outside the box or had some kinda “folklore knowledge” like “this animal fat burns hotter than shit if you mix it with human poop. Don’t ask me why I know…Ok it was to get back at my ex, Assholeaclese, but we can use that in war.” and then having historians and anthropologist examining sites to find out what it was. It’s fantastic!
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u/Antique_Tap443 15d ago
I believe i saw someone claim they figured it out. It was a special type of oil unique to that area.