BS: How did the Romans light candles?

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:50 PM

Lovely.

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Alice
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:46 PM

scroll down on that page and you can see photos of them.
There is also an illustration of how they used it to strike against flint held against the "touchwood" flammable material.

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Alice
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:45 PM

An antiquities seller has an Ebay page.
You can buy an "ancient Roman fire starter" for your very own!

http://www.hotlinecy.com/antiquities.htm

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:44 PM

SRS - Yes, I know. ;-) I try not to let it cause me to become vain.

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:44 PM

So it seems that striking a piece of flint on an appropriate surface was the key in the ancient world, is that right?

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:42 PM

LH, you're matchless!

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:42 PM

Okay, Liz, I don't mean the slow match. A slow match still had to be ignited from some other fire source. I mean the modern match which is ignited by striking it on a rough surface of some kind.

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Bee
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:42 PM

Dammit, there's a very old NFB animation that answers your question, but they don't appear to have it on their site. I think it was called 'Fire'.

John F. Weldon, where are you?

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:41 PM

Flint and a firestone - a stne cotaining iron such as pyrite. (Steel is better, but that wasn't around till modern times, 17th century or so.)

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:39 PM

Aha. You sure?

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:38 PM

Do you mean the wooden sticks tipped with flammable chemicals dyed red we recognise as matchsticks, the brown tipped ones we know as safety matches or the slow match which is used to ignite cannon, early firearms and fireworks, which is basically a piece of thick cord soaked or coated in a flammable material (saltpetre usually)?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:37 PM

strike a flint over some dried moss

Subject: BS: How did the Romans light candles?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:30 PM

Fantastically dumb question, right? ;-)

Well, what I'm really after here is...I want to know when matches first came into use, and what people generally did prior to the invention of matches when they needed a quick light.

For instance, Roman archers often used flaming arrows in battle. This required a very large number of men to repeatedly ignite volleys of arrows which were coated, I would assume, in some sort of very flammable pitch or something like that. Now, I'm pretty sure they weren't using matches or lighters to do that, eh?

Nope, I'm bettin' that they had some flaming pots of pitch stationed all along the firing line and they all dipped their arrows in it to get a light just before shooting them. That's what I'd figure. But how did they light the pots of pitch in the first place? From a main fire? Okay, then how did they light that main fire in the first place? And so on, and so on...

To make a long story short, who invented matches and when and where did they first become available?

I know I could just look it up on Google, but I'd rather give you all a chance to make some wisecracks here and demonstrate your wit and wisdom...

I wait with great anticipation. Don't let me down.