History and nature of petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil has been known for a long time. Archeologists have shown that it had already been extracted and used for about 5-6 thousand years before Christ. The most ancient known oil wells are those at Ephrata and the Kerch coast in the Chinese province of Sychuan. The mention of petroleum has been found in many ancient manuscripts and books. For example, the Bible writes about pitch wells in the vicinities of the Dead Sea . 

In ancient times, petroleum had some applications in medicine as well as civil works. For example, the ancient Greek scientist Hippocrates (IV-V century B.C.) has described many recipes of medicines which included petroleum. In one ancient manuscript is written we shall mb the patients with petroleum in such a way that the illness is taken away. White petroleum takes away the illness (cough in this case). Black petroleum takes away a reasoning of the cough . The Egyptians used petroleum oils to manufacture preservation mixtures. 

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In the ruins of the ancient Indian city Mohengo-Daro was found a huge pool constructed five thousand years ago. The walls of the pool were covered with a layer of asphalt. 

The composition of Greek fire was kept as a top secret. However Arabian alchemists solved the secret of the Greek fire after almost four hundred years after the fight at Constantinople. The main component of Greek fire was petroleum with the addition of sulfur and saltpeter. 

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