Archimedes of Syracuse
Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer
287 BCE to 212 BCE
Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287 BCE – c. 212 BCE) is a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer.
Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity.
Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an explanation of the principle of the lever.
He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege engines and the screw pump that bears his name.
Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors.
Archimedes is generally considered to be the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time.
He used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi.
He also defined the spiral bearing his name, formulae for the volumes of surfaces of revolution and an ingenious system for expressing very large numbers.
Archimedes died during the Siege of Syracuse when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed.
Cicero describes visiting the tomb of Archimedes, which was surmounted by a sphere inscribed within a cylinder.
Archimedes had proven that the sphere has two thirds of the volume and surface area of the cylinder (including the bases of the latter), and regarded this as the greatest of his mathematical achievements.
Unlike his inventions, the mathematical writings of Archimedes were little known in antiquity.
Mathematicians from Alexandria read and quoted him, but the first comprehensive compilation was not made until c. 530 CE by Isidore of Miletus, while commentaries on the works of Archimedes written by Eutocius in the sixth century CE opened them to wider readership for the first time.
The relatively few copies of Archimedes' written work that survived through the Middle Ages were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance, while the discovery in 1906 of previously unknown works by Archimedes in the Archimedes Palimpsest has provided new insights into how he obtained mathematical results.
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Hiero II of Syracuse has remained loyal to the Romans since 263 BCE, frequently supplying them with soldiers and provisions during the Punic Wars.
He maintains a powerful defensive fleet and employs his famous kinsman, the Greek Archimedes, in the construction of ingenious mechanical devices for defense of the city.
Hiero dies in 216/215 BCE.
During the long mainland campaign of the Second Punic War, with the Roman and Carthaginian armies now deadlocked on the Italian peninsula, fighting has continued as well on Sardinia and Sicily, which have become Rome's chief sources of food.
Aided by internal upheaval in Syracuse, Carthage reestablishes its presence on the island in 215 BCE; the Syracusans become Carthaginian allies.
Despite the defections by Syracuse and southern Italy, most of Rome's other allies hold firm.
Following his triumph at Casilium, Marcellus is sent to Sicily, upon which Hannibal has set his sights, and finds the island in disarray.
Hieronymus, the new ruler of the Rome-allied Kingdom of Syracuse, had recently come to the throne upon his grandfather's death and fallen under the influence of the Carthaginian agents Hippocrates and Epicydes.
He had then declared war against the Romans after the Carthaginian victory at the Battle of Cannae.
However, Hieronymus is soon deposed; the new Syracusan leaders attempt a reconciliation with Rome but cannot quell their suspicions and then align themselves with the Carthaginians.
In 214 BCE, the same year that he is sent to Sicily, …
Marcellus attacks the city of Leontini, where the two Syracusean rulers are residing.
After successfully storming the city, Marcellus has two thousand Roman deserters who were hiding in the city killed, and moves to lay siege to Syracuse itself.
At this point, several cities in the province of Sicily rise in rebellion against Roman rule.
The Romans, led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, have besieged the city of Syrcuse since 214 BCE.
In an early use of the lens as a weapon, Archimedes of Syracuse is said to have employed a number of concave, highly polished bronze shields that directed the sun’s rays against Roman ships to set fire to the invading fleet.
Marcellus, leaving the bulk of the Roman legion in the command of Appius Claudius at Syracuse, meanwhile roams Sicily with a small army, conquering opponents and taking such rebellious cities as Helorus, Megara, and Herbessus.
The Carthaginians attempt to relieve Syracuse after Marcellus returns to the city and continues the siege, but they are driven back.
The Romans overcome formidable resistance and the ingenious devices of Archimedes to finally take the city in the summer of 212 BCE.
Plutarch wrote that Marcellus, when he had previously entered the city for a diplomatic meeting with the Syracusans, had noticed a weak point in its fortifications.
He made his attack at this fragile spot, using a night attack by a small group of hand-picked soldiers to storm the walls and open the gates.
During the attack, Archimedes was killed, an act Marcellus regretted.
Plutarch writes that the Romans rampaged through the city, taking much of the plunder and artwork they could find.
This has significance because Syracuse was a Greek city filled with Greek culture, art and architecture.
Much of this Greek art was taken to Rome, where it was one of the first major impacts of Greek influence on Roman culture.
Though declining slowly by the years, Syracuse will maintain the status of capital of the Roman government of Sicily and seat of the praetor.
The importance of Capua during the third century BCE has increased steadily, and at the beginning of the Second Punic War it was considered to be only slightly behind Rome and Carthage themselves, and was able to furnish thirty thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry.
It had remained faithful to Rome until after the defeat of Cannae, but, after demanding in vain that one of the consuls should always be selected from it or perhaps in order to secure regional supremacy in the event of a Carthaginian victory, it had defected to Hannibal, who made it his winter quarters: he and his army were voluntarily received by Capua.
Livy and others have suggested that the luxurious conditions were Hannibal's "Cannae" because his troops became soft and demoralized by luxurious living.
Historians from Bosworth Smith onward have been skeptical of this, observing that his troops gave as good an account of themselves in battle after that winter as before.
After a long siege, it is taken by the Romans in 211 BCE and severely punished (Second Battle of Capua); its magistrates and communal organization are abolished, those inhabitants not killed lose their civic rights, and its territory is declared ager publicus (Roman state domain).
Marcellus, following his victory at Syracuse, moves to defeat a Carthaginian force near Himera.
He remains in Sicily, where he defeats more Carthaginian and rebel foes.
The important city of Akragas is still under Carthaginian control, though there is now little the Carthaginian leadership can do to support it as the campaigns against the Romans in Spain and Italy now take precedence.