A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – He has been considered a genius with the highest mental ability and a unique talent. Who was Archimedes?

Archimedes was a great scholar from Syracuse, the ancient capital of Sicily, which was originally a Greek colony founded by Corinth in 734 BC.

Not much is known about Archimedes, and information about him comes mainly from the introductions to his works and from numerous anecdotes often quoted by ancient historians.

He was the son of Fidias, an unknown astronomer about whom nothing is known. Even the year of Archimedes’ birth (probably about 287 BC) has never been established with absolute certainty. Plutarch reports that Archimedes’ family was in some way related to that of Hieron II, King of Syracuse (c. 306 BC – 216/215 BC), the Greek Sicilian Tyrant of Syracuse. He is believed to have been killed in 212 BC during the Roman conquest of Syracuse.

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