Wait until you read about the Roman Republic thousands of years before this time - you’re gonna love it.
2. Chemical warfare was used before the Romans, for instance, like that condiment, the greeks had it before them. (Though I don't believe the greeks invented it first either). For example, see this wikipedia article (which is really in need of some improvement) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_chemical_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilisation#Clim...