1Katana
Tsujigiri or “crossroad killing” was a Samurai practice whereby they would test the sharpness of their new katana by attacking a random passerby.
2. Ancient Egyptian cat goddess Mafdet was said to have ripped out the hearts of criminals before placing them at the pharaoh’s feet, the same way cats today bring their owners mice or birds they have hunted. “Mafdet’s Claw” was an Ancient Egyptian execution weapon named after her.
3. Persian soldiers attacking a Roman-occupied city may have been the first to use weaponized chemicals in combat. The Romans were met with a wall of noxious black smoke that turned into acid in their lungs.
4. In the 1st century B.C., the Heptacomitae weaponized “crazing honey” for use against the Romans. The Romans consumed the honey and suffered mental derangement which allowed the Heptacomitae to easily overrun them.
5. The pike/spear called the sarissa in Alexander’s army actually weighed around 12-15 pound and was 15-18 feet long.
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6Helepolis
The Helepolis was a 130-feet multi-story siege tower equipped with 16 catapults, eight wheels, and a 3400-man crew.
7. A spiked ball at the end of a chain is a 'ball and chain flail', not a morning star (which has spikes but no chain). Despite their popularity in fiction, there is little historical evidence that ball-and-chain flails ever saw widespread use.
8. Due to the advanced metallurgy of the ancient Chinese, some of the weapons held by the Terracotta Army (after 2,200 years underground) were still sharp, rust-free, and shiny once a thin oxide layer was removed.
9. A Flemish medieval polearm, which is essentially an elongated club with a spearhead, is named Goedendag, literally meaning "good day" in English.
10. A weapon of war called a Scythed Chariot consisted of spinning blades powered by horses whose purpose was to saw the legs off of the enemy soldiers.
11Insect Warfare
In the 14th century, ships would catapult beehives onto the decks of enemy ships to clear the way for boarding parties.
12. The Urumi is a flexible whip sword that is no longer used in battle. It is still practiced as an extremely dangerous martial art weapon in India.
13. When the Romans first encountered war elephants, they used tow ropes attached to chariots to bind their legs and topple them much like the Rebels on Hoth in Star Wars.
14. In medieval times, corpses of sick people were used as catapult ammunition, as a form of biological weapon.
15. A "Hot Shot" was originally a cannonball that was heated in a furnace and then fired at wooden ships for the purpose of setting them on fire.
16The Warwolf
King Edward I of England built the largest trebuchet ever made called “The Warwolf”. The Scots inside the castle surrendered by the mere sight of it but Edward used it anyway because he wanted to see it in action.
17. In the 1500s, Incas had cotton armor so densely woven it could repel spears and arrows almost as well as metal armor.
18. There was an ancient Korean weapon named Hwacha that shot 200 arrows in one explosion.
19. Hellburners were 16th-century fire-ships whose decks were filled with gunpowder sandwiched between bricks and tombstones. They are considered to be an early form of weapons of mass destruction.
20. The Samurais wore a cloak (Horo) that inflated when the wearer was riding a horse, which protected him from incoming arrows from behind.
21Leiomano
Ancient Hawaiians made a weapon named Leiomano that had blades made out of shark’s teeth.
22. During the Second Punic War (218 - 202 BC), Greek scientist Archimedes is said to have repelled the attacking Roman ships by setting them on fire with a “burning glass.” It may have just been an array of mirrors.
23. The Man Catcher was one of the few examples of non-lethal medieval weapons. It was used primarily to pull a person from horseback and drag them to the ground, but it was also used to capture opponents for ransom and to trap and contain violent prisoners.
24. There is an ancient arrow throwing weapon called the atlatl that can throw an arrow up to around 100 mph.
25. During the late 1700s, in order to fight the British, an Indian king developed rocket artillery that fired swords.
