3/29/2023 0 Comments Eureka archimedes![]() ![]() What if the crown had been made out of gold but also less ‘noble’ metals – especially silver – so that the jewelry maker could retain some of the king’s gold for him? Syracuse, in ruins today. The king was doubtful about the final result more specifically, he wondered whether the jeweler had followed his instructions to the letter or not. ( Alike Midas, it seems like Greek monarchs were fascinated by gold-made items.)īut something was not quite right. He then handed the quantity of gold required to do the job to the craftsman, and days later, Hiero received the precious object ceremoniously. On one occasion, the king ordered a local jeweler to mold a votive crown -a piece of jewelry meant as an offering to the gods- out of pure gold. ![]() This position happened to be a good springboard to his future scientific achievements. Only aged 22, he was personal adviser to the monarch and assisted him in any matter requiring quick-solving skills. That is perhaps better exemplified with the story of Archimedes, who lived in Syracuse (Sicily) in the 3 rd century B.C.īefore he earned a deserved reputation of brilliant astronomer and mathematician, Archimedes worked at the court of Hiero II, King of Syracuse. Nevertheless, given the time it took for the Hellenistic civilization to slowly turn into our Western societies, accounts of scientific breakthroughs in Ancient Greece still lie at the boundary between fact and legend. To put that into more tangible perspective, some of their thousand-year-old inventions still form the pattern of your own daily routines (the following illustrations may not apply depending on your country of residence, please cross out irrelevant answers) with things like democracy, the first alarm clock, the art of theater or the Olympic Games… Ancient Greeks also introduced the first historian, Herodotus – hence the curiosity for history you satisfy reading through this post (thanks, by the way) could be another legacy of their inventiveness. Ever wondered why complex math problems feature Greek letters like alpha ( α) or omega (ω)? Because Ancient Greeks were at the forefront of mathematical thinking. Without Ancient Greek thinkers, general knowledge games would last about five minutes. Aristotle, Euclid, Hippocrates, Socrates (among others) have laid the foundation of mathematics, geometry, medicine and philosophy. This also happened because some savants shared an enthusiasm for furthering human knowledge and pushed for progress in literally every scientific field. Surely, science and technology took giant leaps over the Antiquity period. ![]() This is the case, for instance, of the Great Pyramids erected by the Egyptians which we barely seem to understand nowadays (and aliens did not take part in building those, but thanks for passing by and saying hi, conspirators). Some of mankind’s greatest achievements remain shrouded in mystery centuries later. ![]()
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