220 BC – 210 BCs

Events in 220 BC – 210 BC 7

• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes of Syracuse The greatest mathematician and engineer of antiquity Archimedes (c.287–212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer and inventor born in Syracuse, Sicily. Son of the astronomer Phidias, he was possibly related to King Hiero II of Syracuse. He is ranked alongside Newton and Gauss as one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time. He left nine surviving treatises covering geometry, hydrostatics, statics and mathematical physics, and invented war machines that held Rome at bay for two years. He died when Roman soldiers breached Syracuse in 212 BC — allegedly while working on a geometry problem.
• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes — buoyancy, lever and pi The greatest scientist of antiquity Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287–212 BC) discovered the principle of buoyancy — that a body submerged in fluid experiences an upward force equal to the weight of fluid it displaces — reputedly while stepping into his bath. He proved the law of the lever, calculated pi as lying between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7, determined the surface area and volume of a sphere, and laid the foundations of hydrostatics and statics. He also invented the Archimedes screw for raising water and designed war machines to defend Syracuse against the Romans.
• 220 BC The Method of Mechanical Theorems A secret letter to Eratosthenes — how he actually discovered his results In a letter to Eratosthenes, Archimedes revealed the secret heuristic method he used to discover (but not formally prove) his mathematical results: he imagined slicing geometric figures into infinitely thin strips and balancing them on a lever, using the law of the lever to deduce relationships between areas and volumes. This technique is essentially integral calculus. Archimedes did not consider it rigorous enough for formal proof — he used the method of exhaustion for that — but as a discovery tool, it was 1,800 years ahead of Newton. The work was lost for centuries and only rediscovered in 1906.
• 218 BC – 201 BC Second Punic War — Hannibal invades Italy Hannibal Barca crosses the Alps with 37 war elephants and an army of 26,000 men in 218 BC, fighting his way to the gates of Rome. He destroys Roman armies at the Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and Cannae (216 BC) — the latter killing perhaps 70,000 Romans in a single afternoon, the most lethal single day in Roman history. Yet Rome refuses to negotiate, raises new armies, and shifts strategy. Scipio Africanus carries the war to Africa; at the Battle of Zama (202 BC) Hannibal is defeated.
• 214 BC – 212 BC Archimedes' war machines defend Syracuse The Claw, giant catapults and possibly burning mirrors During the siege, Archimedes deployed a series of devastating mechanical devices. His long-range and short-range catapults rained stones and arrows on Roman troops at any distance. The Claw of Archimedes — a crane-like arm with a grappling hook, extended over the city walls — could seize Roman ships, lift them from the water, and capsize or smash them against the rocks. The Roman soldiers became so terrified that if they saw any rope or timber appearing over the walls, they would flee. Ancient sources also mention burning mirrors that focused sunlight onto Roman ships, though modern experiments have produced mixed results. Plutarch wrote that Marcellus retreated and "began to feel that he was fighting against the gods."
• 214 BC Siege of Syracuse begins Rome attacks — Archimedes defends In 214 BC, the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus besieged Syracuse by sea and land with a fleet of 60 quinqueremes and a large land army. King Hiero II had commissioned Archimedes to prepare the city's defences in anticipation. What followed was one of the most remarkable episodes in military history: a single man's engineering genius held the Roman army at bay for nearly three years.
• 212 BC Archimedes killed by a Roman soldier Syracuse falls — "Do not disturb my circles" In 212 BC, after a two-year siege, Roman forces breached the walls of Syracuse. Archimedes was working on a geometry problem when a Roman soldier approached and ordered him to come before the general Marcellus. Archimedes refused, saying "Do not disturb my circles." The soldier killed him on the spot. Marcellus was reportedly devastated — he had given orders that Archimedes was not to be harmed, and had admired him greatly. Marcellus arranged for an honourable burial and saw to the welfare of his family. Archimedes was approximately 75 years old.