Kallinikos 1 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M/L VII |
| Dates | 673 (tpq) / 678 (taq) |
| PmbZ No. | 3585 |
| Locations | Heliopolis (Syria) (residence); Constantinople (residence); Constantinople; Heliopolis (Syria); Heliopolis (Syria) (birthplace) |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Textual Sources | Bar Hebraeus, Chronographia, tr. E. A. W. Budge, The Chronography of Abu 'l-Faraj (London, 1932; repr. Amsterdam, 1976) (history); Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle); Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle); Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history) |
Kallinikos 1 was a native of Heliopolis in Syria (ἀπὸ Ἡλιουπόλεως Συρίας); he was an architect (ἀρχιτέκτων); during the Arab naval campaigns against Constantinople in 673/678 he fled to the Romans and prepared a fiery substance (πῦρ θαλάσσιον κατασκευάσας) which he then used to destroy the Arab ships and the men on them, so giving the victory to the Romans: Theoph. AM 6165, Zon. XIV 20. 15. He was perhaps the inventor of Greek fire. A carpenter from Baalbek, he fled from Syria to the lands of the Romans and there he invented an inflammable mixture which burnt the ships of the Arabs: Mich. Syr. II 455, Bar Hebr., p. 101. The date was under Constantine IV (Konstantinos 2), after the year 981 Sel. (AD 669/670).
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