LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Archimedes: City
built 642 days ago
For two years the genius of Archimedes repelled the Romans, enabling the city to survive the lengthy siege. Nevertheless, in 212 BC the forces of Marcellus prevailed and took the city. Marcellus had great respect for Archimedes, and immediately dispatched soldiers to retrieve his foe. Apparently, the great mathematician was unaware that his enemy had stormed the city, so deeply were his attentions focused on a mathematical problem. When a soldier demanded Archimedes accompany him to the quarters of Marcellus he simply refused, and continued his ruminations. The enraged soldier flew upon Archimedes, striking the 75 year-old eccentric dead.
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Archimedes was working on a geometry problem and apparently was not aware that the Romans had entered the city. When a Roman soldier came into his room and commanded him to come to with him, Archimedes told him he was too busy on his problem to be bothered. The soldier became enraged, drew his sword and killed him. Archimedes was 75 when he died.
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When the Romans arrived under the command of the famed general Marcellus, Archimedes was prepared. The Roman historian Polybius relates that Archimedes now made such extensive preparations, both within the city and ... to guard against an attack from the sea, that there would be no chance of the defenders being employed in meeting emergencies but that every move of the enemy could be replied to instantly by a counter move.…huge beams were suddenly projected at the [Roman] ships from the walls, which sank some of them with great weights plunging down from on high; others were seized at the prow by iron claws….drawn straight up into the air, and then plunged stern foremost into the depths…. with great destruction of the fighting men on board, who perished in the wrecks….in reality all the rest of the Syracusans were but a body for the designs of Archimedes, and his the one soul moving and managing everything; for all other weapons laid idle, and his alone were then employed by the city both in offense and defense.
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Archimedes was unaware of the taking of the city, as he was intent on working on a problem by drawing figures in the dust. As the soldier came to capture him, he stepped in the dust where Archimedes had been working. Archimedes said, "Don't disturb my circles." This made the soldier so mad that he drew his sword and slew him.
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From the imaging work done so far on this important and unique manuscript, new discoveries have been made about Archimedes. He is considered the most important mathematician and engineer of ancient Greece, and his work resonates and remains relevant to this day. Archimedes, born in 287 B.C. in Syracuse on the island of Sicily, is famous for shouting “Eureka” (“I have found it”), and running naked from his bath through the streets of Syracuse declaring that he had discovered a method for determining the volume of bodies from the amount of water displaced when objects are submerged. He was ... celebrated in his time—and is still celebrated in ours—for his practical applications of mathematics and physics to create war machines, used in the defense of the Greek city-state Syracuse from Roman invaders.
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Since Syracuse had been threatened by the Romans over the years, King Hiero persuaded Archimedes to develop weapons to defend the city in case of a possible attack. Archimedes invented a number of clever weapons that would prove effective in defending the city against attacks.
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