The final for my ancient cultures class is a project based one. By this I mean we're expected to build something, not write out a research paper. So, instead of mumifying some sort of small animal or building a trebuchet, I wanted to make Greek Fire. The trouble is, I need to convince the powers that be that I won't burn the school down, and I can't do that until I know more about it.

So, the purpose of this post is to gather whatever information you folks already know to take some of the research load off me. The biggest question is, what's in it? I know the formula was a closely guarded military secret, but there's bound to be some speculation and recipies that behave like the stuff described in first hand accounts.

The second big thing I need to know is, how do you douse the supposedly inextinguishable sludge? This project won't happen if I can't even tell them I can put it out.

You are quite correct that it was a military secret, and like most, the details are simply not known. Personally, Knowing only the speculation of how it was made, I wouldn't let you present it if you had the fire department on hand when you did. We are talking about a weapon of war, man!

In all cases, as much as I would like to help you out, We simply can't have a thread in which people discuss how to put together working models of pyrotecnic weapons. I do wish you the best of luck, and I recommend a mock-up rather than a model.