![]() II, 263, 2–8) and Tzetzes ( Chiliades, II, 121–131), authors already mentioned, describe in detail the mirrors of Archimedes. In the twelfth century, Zonaras ( Epitome historiarum, vol. The first clear reference to burning mirrors dates to the sixth century and is due to Anthemius of Tralles, who cites the episode as unanimously accepted by historians ( Περί παραδόξων μηχανημάτων, II, 47–48) and then, in the same work, proposes a conjectural reconstruction of the form and construction of the mirrors ( Περί παραδόξων μηχανημάτων, III, 49–50). Footnote 2 Neither of the two, however, speak of mirrors, and the most plausible interpretation is that they intended to refer to the launching of incendiary substances. ![]() The first mentions of Roman ships set afire from a distance thanks to devices invented by Archimedes appears in the second century a.d., in one passage from Lucian ( Ippia, 2) and one from Galen ( De temperamentis, III, 2). Polybius, Titus Livius (who provides a more succinct account of the siege of Syracuse, Ab urbe condita libri CXLII, XXIV, 34) and Plutarch (who describes the siege in the Vita Marcelli cited earlier) say nothing of it. Likewise, the testimonies of the episode of the burning mirrors grow and become more detailed with the passing of time. ![]() Since the context regards an estimate of the ratio between the dimensions of the sun and the moon, if the amendment is correct, the hypothetical father Phidias should presumably have dealt with astronomy on at least one occasion, but no other source cites an astronomer by that name. The news that he was the son of the astronomer Phidias, given in many texts as certain, derives from a passage in Sand Reckoner by Archimedes himself, incomprehensible in the manuscripts ( Arenario, II, 136–137, ), which the philologist Friedrich Blass in 1883 emended, conjecturing that it contained the words Φειδία δ \( \) τοũ άμοũ πατρòς (my father Phidias). ![]() We will see that we have good reasons not to place too much faith in his testimony. It is possible that Tzetzes had reliable sources at his disposal that we do not know about, but it might also be that he (or his source) wished only to quantify the fact, mentioned by several authors, that he died when he was old. It is thought that he was born in 287 b.c.-in fact, this year we celebrate the twenty-third centenary of his birth-but the only author who gives this date is the Byzantine John Tzetzes, of the twelfth century, according to whom Archimedes died at the age of 75. ![]() There is no doubt that Archimedes was a Syracusan, and that he died during the Roman sack of Syracuse in 212 b.c. There are few biographical facts that are absolutely certain. ![]()
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