Chapter 111: Need To Know

''Another advantage that the Byzantines inherited from the Roman Empire and subsequently refined was the control of information in their bureaucracies. Perhaps best exemplified by their control over the knowledge of Greek Fire, they arguably perfected the use of information compartmentalization, where the weapon system of Greek Fire was broken down into many parts, and no one group had access to the full information required to create and deploy the feared weapon. The knowledge was instead spread between those who had the formula for its creation, the builders and operators of the specialized dromon ships that carried the Fire into battle, the specific chamber used to heat and pressurize it for spraying, the crafters of the siphōn that sprayed it, and the siphōnarioi who used it in battle. No one group in the entirety of the Byzantine government had the full picture of how it was made or used. Thus, even when portions of Greek Fire were captured—such as in 814 AD by the Bulgarians—the enemies of the Byzantines could not make use of the weapon.''

—Constantinople: The Child Of Rome's Empire, Venice, Italy, 1725

Foreshadowing
Put spoilers here

Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph is about the Byzantine Empire's information control. The chapter shows Empress Theodora ordering the news of the Pechenegs taming dragons of their own be kept a secret outside of a select few.

Links to the Chapter
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