▶ Your Answer :
The lecturer argues that the ancient Greek soldiers might have used mirrors to burn Roman naval ships. In contrast, the reading passage claims that it is just a myth and gives three reasons to support its claim. However, the lecturer refutes each of three reasons which the reading passage introduces.
Firstly, the lecturer asserts that even though there is no reference to support the use of the parabolic mirrors in the war, it does not necessarily mean that the mirrors were not used in the war. Numerous treatises were lost when the library in Alexandria in Greece was destroyed, so it’s natural that there remains no document regarding the Greek-Roman war in the 2 century BC. In addition, the use of parabolic mirrors is mentioned in a greek play written in the 423 BC, which precedes the war for centuries. This casts doubt on the reading passage’s claim which says there had been no discovery regarding the use of mirror during the battle.
On top of that, the lecturer contends that it is possible for Greek soldiers to target ships with mirrors. The Greek had a series of well-trained and highly disciplined personnel which could act in concert. Even though targeting the ship is very difficult, the Greek soldiers could have overcome it by practicing to target the ship before it moved away. This also counters the reading passage’s claim which asserts that it was impossible for the Greek soldiers to target a moving ship with multiple mirrors simultaneously.
Lastly, the lecturer claims that fire must have spread so quickly that it would have been impossible for the Roman soldiers to put out the fire. According to the lecturer’s explanation, the Roman naval ships used substance such as tar to waterproof. Since the substance is very weak to fire(flammable), as the fire got on the Roman ships it must have become so large rapidly that it would have been impossible even for well-trained Roman sailors to put it out. This contradicts the reading passage’s claim that the fire produced with mirrors were not big enough to burn the Roman naval ships. |