Prosopography (Index Personarum)

Chronological register of geometers, astronomers, Syracusan patrons, commentators, and philologists linked via :person: across the Archimedean corpus.

Person & Native Orthography

Flourished / Dates

Historical Role

Archimedean Witness & Significance

Democritus of Abdera (Δημόκριτος ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης)

  1. 460–370 BC

Atomist philosopher & pioneer of infinitesimal volume discovery

Explicitly credited by Archimedes in the Preface to The Method with first discovering—though without rigorous geometric demonstration—that the cone is one-third of the cylinder and the pyramid one-third of the prism on the same base and equal height. (Loci: Method Preface (Heath 1912, p. 13; Heiberg II, 430))

Eudoxus of Cnidus (Εὔδοξος ὁ Κνίδιος)

  1. 390–337 BC

Founder of the general theory of proportions & method of exhaustion

Formulated the Lemma of Continuity (Euclid V.Def.4, X.1; Archimedes Sphere & Cylinder I Assump. 5) and gave the first rigorous geometric proofs by exhaustion that a cone is one-third of a cylinder and a pyramid one-third of a prism, praised in Archimedes’ prefaces to Sphere and Cylinder I and The Method. (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. I Pref. (p. 2); Quadrature Pref. (p. 234); Method Pref. (1912, p. 13))

Aristaeus the Elder (Ἀρισταῖος ὁ Πρεσβύτερος)

fl. c. 330 BC

Author of Solid Loci (Five Books on Conic Sections)

Pre-Apollonian geometer whose symptomata of the three sections of right-angled, acute-angled, and obtuse-angled cones form the background of Archimedes’ citations to the ‘Elements of Conics’ (τὰ κωνικὰ στοιχεῖα). (Loci: Quadrature of the Parabola Props. 1–3 (pp. 235–236); Conoids & Spheroids Prop. 3)

Euclid of Alexandria (Εὐκλείδης)

fl. c. 300 BC

Author of the Elements & Conics

Cited by name in On the Sphere and Cylinder I.2 (‘by the second proposition of the first book of Euclid’) and I.6, and throughout Archimedes’ demonstrations via the Elements of Geometry and Elements of Conics. (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. I.2 (p. 5), I.6 (p. 9); Quadrature Prop. 3 (p. 236))

Phidias of Syracuse (Φειδίας)

fl. c. 290 BC

Astronomer & father of Archimedes

Named by Archimedes in The Sand-Reckoner (‘Phidias my father’, Φειδία δὲ τοῦ ἁμοῦ πατρός) as having estimated the diameter of the sun to be twelve times that of the moon. (Loci: Sand-Reckoner I.9 (Heath 1897, p. 223; Heiberg II, 220))

Aristarchus of Samos (Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σάμιος)

  1. 310–230 BC

Mathematician & founder of ancient heliocentric astronomy

Author of hypotheses in which the fixed stars and sun remain unmoved while the earth revolves around the sun in a circle whose ratio to the sphere of fixed stars Archimedes analyzes and enlarges in The Sand-Reckoner (Arenarius I.4–7). (Loci: Sand-Reckoner I.4–7 (Heath 1897, pp. 221–223; Heiberg II, 218))

King Hiero II of Syracuse (Ἱέρων Β΄)

  1. 308–215 BC

Ruler of Syracuse & kinsman-patron of Archimedes

Commissioned the votive golden crown whose specific-gravity test inspired On Floating Bodies, witnessed Archimedes launch the giant ship Syracusia via compound pulleys, and prompted Archimedes’ defensive engines that held off Marcellus’s Roman fleet. (Loci: Sand-Reckoner I.1 (p. 221); On Floating Bodies I–II (pp. 253–300))

Archimedes of Syracuse (Ἀρχιμήδης ὁ Συρακούσιος)

  1. 287–212 BC

Supreme geometer and founder of mathematical mechanics & hydrostatics

Established rigorous rational bounds for π (3 10/71 < π < 3 1/7), founded theoretical statics and barycentric geometry (center of gravity X(2) of the triangle and parabolic segment), squared the parabola and spiral, cubed the sphere (2/3 of the circumscribed cylinder, engraved on his tomb), classified the 13 semi-regular polyhedra, and bequeathed his heuristic mechanical slice method to Eratosthenes. (Loci: Passim (Heath 1897 pp. 1–326; Heath 1912 pp. 1–51; Heiberg Vols. I–III))

Conon of Samos (Κόνων ὁ Σάμιος)

  1. 280–220 BC

Court astronomer at Alexandria & closest mathematical confidant of Archimedes

Celebrated with deep affection by Archimedes for his extraordinary geometric insight; Archimedes sent his theorems on spirals, spheres, and conoids first to Conon, mourning his premature death in the prefaces to Quadrature of the Parabola, Sphere and Cylinder I, and On Spirals. (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. I Pref. (p. 1); Spirals Pref. (p. 151); Quadrature Pref. (p. 233))

Eratosthenes of Cyrene (Ἐρατοσθένης ὁ Κυρηναῖος)

  1. 276–194 BC

Chief Librarian at Alexandria, geometer & addressee of The Method

Honored by Archimedes as an earnest scholar of philosophy and mathematics; recipient of The Method of Mechanical Theorems—in which Archimedes unveiled his private heuristic balance for discovering areas and volumes—and of the Cattle Problem. (Loci: Method Letter & Props. 1–15 (Heath 1912, pp. 12–51); Cattle Problem (p. 319))

King Gelon II of Syracuse (Γέλων)

  1. 266–216 BC

Co-regent of Syracuse & addressee of The Sand-Reckoner

Son of Hiero II; addressed directly (‘King Gelon’, βασιλεῦ Γέλων) throughout The Sand-Reckoner, where Archimedes demonstrates his myriad-octad number system capable of exceeding the grains of sand filling Aristarchus’s cosmos. (Loci: Sand-Reckoner I.1–IV (Heath 1897, pp. 221–232))

Dositheus of Pelusium (Δωσίθεος ὁ Πηλουσιώτης)

fl. c. 230 BC

Alexandrian geometer, pupil of Conon & recipient of five Archimedean treatises

After Conon’s death, Archimedes addressed five monumental works—Quadrature of the Parabola, On the Sphere and Cylinder Books I and II, On Conoids and Spheroids, and On Spirals—to Dositheus in Alexandria. (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. I–II (pp. 1, 57); Conoids (p. 99); Spirals (p. 151); Quadrature (p. 233))

Zeuxippus (Ζεύξιππος)

fl. c. 230 BC

Recipient of Archimedes’ lost arithmetical treatise Principia

Mentioned in The Sand-Reckoner as the recipient of Archimedes’ earlier work Principles (Ἀρχαί) on the naming of arbitrarily large numbers beyond the myriad. (Loci: Sand-Reckoner I.8, III.1 (Heath 1897, pp. 222, 227))

Apollonius of Perga (Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Περγαῖος)

  1. 240–190 BC

The ‘Great Geometer’, author of Conics & Okytokion

Codified the terminology of parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola, composed the Okytokion (‘Quick-Delivery’, attested by Eutocius) calculating tighter bounds on π than 22/7, and rivaled Archimedes’ myriad-system in his tetrads. (Loci: Heath 1897 Introduction Ch. IV & Measurement Note (pp. lxxvii, 93))

Heron of Alexandria (Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς)

fl. c. 60 AD

Geometer & engineer preserving citations to The Method and Mechanics

In his Metrica (rediscovered 1896), Heron explicitly cited Archimedes’ Method on the cylindrical ungula and bicylinder before Heiberg found the Palimpsest, and transmitted the triangle area formula attributed by Arabic tradition (al-Bīrūnī) to Archimedes. (Loci: Heath 1912 Intro (pp. 6–8); Wildberger Quadrea / Archimedes’ Function)

Pappus of Alexandria (Πάππος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς)

  1. 290–350 AD

Author of the Mathematical Collection (Synagoge), preserver of the 13 Archimedean Solids

Preserved the sole complete ancient account of Archimedes’ Thirteen Semi-Regular Polyhedra in Synagoge Book V (Prop. 19), investigated the ‘ancient proposition’ of the infinite arbelos circle chain in Book IV, and extended Archimedes’ spiral, neusis, and centroid theorems in Books IV and VIII. (Loci: Pappus Synagoge IV.14–25, V.19, VIII; Heath 1897 Ch. V & Lemmas Prop. 6)

Proclus Diadochus (Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος)

412–485 AD

Neoplatonic scholarch & historian of Greek geometry

Cited Archimedes’ On the Sphere and Cylinder on the definition of the straight line as the shortest distance between two points (Friedlein 110) and recounted King Hiero’s admiration of Archimedes’ ships and crown (Friedlein 63). (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. I Assump. 1 (p. 3); Proclus In Euclidem 63, 110)

Eutocius of Ascalon (Εὐτόκιος ὁ Ἀσκαλωνίτης)

  1. 480–540 AD

Author of the surviving Greek Commentaries on Archimedes

Composed indispensable Greek commentaries on Sphere and Cylinder Books I–II (preserving twelve ancient solutions to cube duplication and Archimedes’ missing cubic lemma II.4!), Measurement of a Circle (supplying full arithmetic verification of √3 bounds), and Equilibrium of Planes. (Loci: Sphere & Cyl. II.1, II.4 (pp. 62–79); Measurement Prop. 3; Heiberg Vol. III)

Isidore of Miletus (Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Μιλήσιος)

  1. 442–537 AD

Architect of Hagia Sophia & editor of Archimedes’ Byzantine recension

Supervised the sixth-century Constantinopolitan study of Archimedes and Eutocius’s commentaries, normalizing parts of Archimedes’ Syracusan Doric dialect in Sphere and Cylinder and Measurement of a Circle. (Loci: Heath 1897 Introduction Ch. II (pp. xxiii–xxv))

Leo the Mathematician (Λέων ὁ Μαθηματικός)

  1. 790–869 AD

Byzantine polymath & compiler of Archetype Codex A

Gathered surviving Greek manuscripts of Archimedes in ninth-century Constantinople into the minuscule archetype Codex A (lost after 1564, ancestor of all Renaissance Greek copies), initiating the Byzantine mathematical revival alongside Codex C (the Palimpsest). (Loci: Heath 1897 Introduction Ch. II (p. xxv); Heath 1912 Intro)

Thābit ibn Qurra (Θάβιτ ἰμπν Κούρρα (ثابت بن قرة))

836–901 AD

Sabian mathematician & Arabic translator of Archimedes’ Book of Lemmas

Working in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom tradition, translated Archimedes’ Sphere and Cylinder, Measurement of a Circle, and the fifteen propositions of the Book of Lemmas (Kitāb al-Maʾkhūdhāt / Liber Assumptorum), preserving the Arbelos, Twin Circles, Neusis Trisection, and Salinon. (Loci: Book of Lemmas Props. 1–15 (Heath 1897, pp. 301–318))

William of Moerbeke (Guillelmus de Moerbeka)

  1. 1215–1286

Dominican translator of Archimedes Codices A and B at Viterbo (1269)

Produced a literal word-for-word Latin translation in 1269 at the Papal court of Viterbo (Vatican Ottob. lat. 1850) from Greek Codices A and B, serving as the primary textual witness for On Floating Bodies prior to the 1906 Palimpsest discovery. (Loci: Heath 1897 Introduction Ch. II (pp. xxv–xxviii) & Floating Bodies (p. 253))

Luca Pacioli (Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli)

  1. 1447–1517

Franciscan geometer & author of De Divina Proportione (1509)

Reconstructed the truncated and semi-regular ‘elevated/abscised’ Archimedean polyhedra from golden-ratio and Platonic hulls in De Divina Proportione (illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci), bridging Archimedes and Pappus to Renaissance geometry (geometor/pacioli). (Loci: Unit 7: Thirteen Archimedean Semi-Regular Solids Concordance)

Johannes Kepler (Ioannes Keplerus)

1571–1630

Astronomer & geometer who re-proved all 13 Archimedean Solids

In Harmonices Mundi Book II (1619), independently reconstructed, proved the completeness of, and assigned the modern Latin names (cuboctahedron, icosidodecahedron, snub cube, snub dodecahedron, etc.) to all thirteen Archimedean semi-regular solids attested by Pappus. (Loci: Unit 7: Thirteen Archimedean Semi-Regular Solids Concordance)

Giovanni Alfonso Borelli & Abraham Ecchellensis (Iohannes Alphonsus Borellius)

1608–1679 (ed. 1661)

Editors of the 1661 Florence editio princeps of Liber Assumptorum

Translated a 10th-century Arabic manuscript of Thābit ibn Qurra’s recension (with al-Nasawī’s commentary) at the Medici Library in Florence, publishing Archimedes’ Liber Assumptorum in Latin in 1661. (Loci: Book of Lemmas Intro (Heath 1897, pp. xxxii, 301))

Sir Thomas Little Heath (Thomas Little Heath)

1861–1940

Editor & translator of The Works of Archimedes (1897) and The Method (1912)

Produced the monumental Cambridge editions of Archimedes (1897, Supplement 1912), Apollonius (1896), and Euclid’s Elements (1908, geometor/euclid), combining philological fidelity to Heiberg with crystalline geometric clarity. (Loci: Passim (Heath 1897 & 1912))

Johan Ludvig Heiberg (Iohannes Ludovicus Heiberg)

1854–1928

Critical Teubner editor & discoverer of the Archimedes Palimpsest (1906)

Established the definitive critical Greek edition Archimedis Opera Omnia cum commentariis Eutocii (Teubner, 1st ed. 1880–1881; 2nd ed. 1910–1915) and in 1906 deciphered Codex C (the Constantinople Palimpsest), recovering the lost Greek text of The Method, Stomachion, and On Floating Bodies. (Loci: Heath 1897 Pref.; Heath 1912 Introductory Note (pp. 5–11))