Most terrifying weapon of the pre-modern era?

[Ethel mermania]

"Greek Fire"?

Niter, pitch, and soap-- probably, the exact recipe is lost. Balls of it burned and stuck to anything it splattered on, impossible to stop the flames.

During the siege of Syracuse by the Romans, Archimedes created a couple weapons. One was grappling hooks launched by catapult, for tearing ships apart at long-range. The other, less practical but more frightening, consisted of polished parabolic lenses for focusing sunlight on ship's sails and setting them afire, creating the appearance of a kind of death-ray gun millenia ahead of its time. The Roman commander gave strict orders that Archimedes was to be taken alive, but a soldier came across him on the beach doing his mathematical work by drawing diagrams in the sand. Archimedes sprang up enraged when the soldier stepped on one of his figures, and the soldier cut him down-- he was of course tortured to death for this error; never mess with a mathematician.

^ this

[Nidaria]

As was said before, Greek Fire. What makes it even more terrifying is the fact that the secret recipe was never revealed and continues to be a mystery.

My second choice would be repeating crossbows. It is not just enough to have a powerful weapon that pierces armor, it can also continue shooting before needing to be reloaded. It was a gun before the gun. To see how effective a modernized version is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxTtbHmCNiQ&list=FLlxiJpvefiR7ltFQYnoVATw.

My third choice is the rapier. Although not terrifying, a master with it is unstoppable by everything except for an equally skilled master.

[New Rogernomics]

Religious hatred.

[Alice Gardens]

Personally I'd go for the composite bow since Mongol horsemen wreaked havoc with it from China to Poland and Hungary.

Btw, have any of you seen this? It gets really impressive about halfway through:

Reinventing the fastest forgotten archery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zGnxeSbb3g

[United Marxist Nations]

Most terrifying: probably Greek fire or Naffatun. Most effective: probably the simple crossbow or halberd.

[The United Soviet Socialist Republic]

The cannon. Or Greek fire.

[Lubyak]

The good ol' Swiss pike formation.

[Genivaria]

The good ol' Swiss pike formation.

Pike and Shot.

[Lubyak]

The good ol' Swiss pike formation.

Pike and Shot.

Put Wallenstein or Gustavus Adolphus in command and prepare for your enemies to flee in terror.

[Ragnarsdomr]

Sawblade Launchers.

Technically it was doable, it's not our fault the ancients were less crafty than a German with too much free time.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

A missionary.

[Thanatttynia]

The Trebuchet, by far, by far. It made my geeky 7 year old self so much happier when I wheeled it out during Age of Empires II. I haven't played that game in years....

[Trollgaard]

Greek Fire.

[Tagmatium]

Which is why I said in my first post on this particular matter:

That is what I would have thought it was done for, giving them easier access to the arrows, but it has been suggested that it was done to infect wounds.

Which would have done a whole shitload of nothing in the actual battle.

But, it would have made it harder to recruit new soldiers if the old soldiers lose both their arms to gangrene.

They never seemed to have that much of an issue with finding new soldiers, though.

Admittedly, that's due to the shift towards professional armies more than anything else.

[Genivaria]

As was said before, Greek Fire. What makes it even more terrifying is the fact that the secret recipe was never revealed and continues to be a mystery.

My second choice would be repeating crossbows. It is not just enough to have a powerful weapon that pierces armor, it can also continue shooting before needing to be reloaded. It was a gun before the gun. To see how effective a modernized version is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxTtbHmCNiQ&list=FLlxiJpvefiR7ltFQYnoVATw.

My third choice is the rapier. Although not terrifying, a master with it is unstoppable by everything except for an equally skilled master.

Yes because rapiers can block bullets and deflect arrows.

[Ostroeuropa]

As was said before, Greek Fire. What makes it even more terrifying is the fact that the secret recipe was never revealed and continues to be a mystery.

My second choice would be repeating crossbows. It is not just enough to have a powerful weapon that pierces armor, it can also continue shooting before needing to be reloaded. It was a gun before the gun. To see how effective a modernized version is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxTtbHmCNiQ&list=FLlxiJpvefiR7ltFQYnoVATw.

My third choice is the rapier. Although not terrifying, a master with it is unstoppable by everything except for an equally skilled master.

Yes because rapiers can block bullets and deflect arrows.

I'm sure they can.
Just not when wielded by a human.

[Trotskylvania]

My third choice is the rapier. Although not terrifying, a master with it is unstoppable by everything except for an equally skilled master.

Not even close.

Rapiers evolved in a specific circumstance. Namely, dueling culture of the early modern era. No longer having to worry about anything tougher than a heavy coat, duelists prized length and balance, to maximize the range of a thrust as well as allow effective parroting. Rapiers are good only in a one on one fight, and are when one conforms to the expected standards of dueling.

They are a gentleman's weapon, not a weapon of war. Their low weight and balance towards the handle makes them a thrusting weapon, not able to do much slashing damage. And if you do get pierced in the torso by one, you'll probably die. That's the nature of deep stabbing wounds

[Priory Academy USSR]

Swiss people.

They survived pretty much every major war with their borders intact, which implies they must be good at something...

[Ostroeuropa]

My third choice is the rapier. Although not terrifying, a master with it is unstoppable by everything except for an equally skilled master.

Not even close.

Rapiers evolved in a specific circumstance. Namely, dueling culture of the early modern era. No longer having to worry about anything tougher than a heavy coat, duelists prized length and balance, to maximize the range of a thrust as well as allow effective parroting. Rapiers are good only in a one on one fight, and are when one conforms to the expected standards of dueling.

They are a gentleman's weapon, not a weapon of war. Their low weight and balance towards the handle makes them a thrusting weapon, not able to do much slashing damage. And if you do get pierced in the torso by one, you'll probably die. That's the nature of deep stabbing wounds

This too.
And duelists frequently run into the Amateur problem.
You stand more chance of beating someone with 10 years duelist experience if you have absolutely no idea what you are doing than if you have 1 years experience, because you are going to act in a way that is so counter intuitive and stupid that the duelist will probably not be prepared to counter it.
(This only applies if they do not know you are an amateur. This amateur problem can also occur in chess they found. Experienced chess players will spend longer evaluating the board after an amateurs move because the amateur did something they didn't account for and suddenly they have to re-evaluate a whole new 8 moves ahead, since they assumed noone could be so stupid as to move the piece you just moved. In particularly bad cases, this can lead to the experienced player losing on timed matches. Against an expert, they EXPECTED them to move that piece. Against an amateur? totally didn't see it coming. ESPECIALLY if the amateur plays in such a way that the expert cannot be sure if they have absolutely no idea what they are doing, or are just SO SKILLED that the expert didn't notice the advantages of the move )

[The Magnified Union of Aligned Communes]

Long-range crossbows and horse archers. Siege weapons may have been good for, well, sieges, and tactical-level things, but a hail of arrows would have been absolutely terrifying for anyone on foot. Or any army for that matter.

[New Panti]

I have to say, Greek fire. The idea of an ancient flamethrower used to burn ships and soldiers ashes is a pretty terrifying prospect to me, considering there was no way to stop it when it was used. The Byzantine Empire, for example, used it to destroy Ottoman fleets more the twice their size. They also kept the secret of how to create it so well, we still don't know how to create it today. I find that to be awesome.

[Cooperative Communes]

The chain mace. A studded iron ball flying out at you from an iron stake.

[Lyncanestria]

[New Panti]

Also, Korean turtle ships. Basically ancient ironclads used by Korea to repel numerous extremely powerful Japanese invasion fleets.

[Forsher]

Greek fire.

Damn, that was going to be my answer. I don't know any terrifying weapons, beyond stuff like swords.

Anyway, I've now read the whole thread and I accept the popular opinion: Greek fire.