An engraving of Ancient Roman equestrian soldiers by Julius RomanusAncient Roman equestrian soldiers
From Time Magazine:
The prospect of chemical and biological warfare in this age of anthrax scares and WMDs can feel — like the threat of nuclear Armageddon before it— like a uniquely modern terror. But a British archaeologist's recent find offers a reminder that chemical weapons are nothing new — in fact, the tactic is nearly two thousand years old. Simon James, a researcher at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, claims to have found the first physical evidence of chemical weaponry, dating from a battle fought in 256 AD at an ancient Roman fortress city. James concluded that twenty Roman soldiers unearthed beneath the town's ramparts did not die from war wounds, as previous archaeologists assumed, but from poison gas.
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My Comment: The more that things change .... the more they stay the same.