Tpo 30

Both the article and the lecture discuss the existence of a burning mirror in the Greek empire against Romans as a war tool. The article gives three reasons to support the idea that the burning mirror existed at that time, yet the professor takes the opposite view.
It is claimed in the article that the ancient Greeks were not technologically enabled to build a mirror wide enough to set ships on fire; they also were not capable of the technology to curve large parabolic objects, which was necessary for building the burning mirror. However, the professor says that the article assumes that the Greeks used single sheet mirrors while, technologically speaking, it is feasible to build burning mirrors using dozens of sheets. She adds that using small sheets gave them the ability to manufacture very precise parabolic curvature.
According to the article, using the burning mirror takes so long to set fire on a wooden object even at a relatively close distance, meaning that the ancient Greeks were not able to set fire on Roman ships as they were moving. The professor asserts that it is true if they were trying to set fire on wood whereas, as a matter of fact, they were not. She clarifies that the Roman ships were not only made of wood but also another material that was incorporated into their structure to waterproof them. That was a highly talented material to catch fire in a flash of time. Therefore, Greeks soldiers only needed to focus the burning mirror on this material.
Finally, it is mentioned in the article that the burning mirror was not such an improvement compared to flaming arrows. In fact, they were both effective at similar distances meaning that the ancient Greeks did not need to build the burning mirror. The professor posits that although both the weapons were practically similar, Roman armies were familiar with flaming arrows and could see them during the war. However, they did not recognize burning mirrors and could see only mirrors. Therefore, this gave Greeks much advantage in the battle against the ancient Romans