The Culture at the Time of Archimedes

Archimedes was a part of a self-governed colony of people who had come there from Greece. Archimedes was born into the Greek scientific culture. In his work "The Sand Reckoner", he tells us that his father was an astronomer. When Archimedes explained that estimating the ratio of the sun to the moon, he says:“Pheidias, my father, said the sun was twelve times bigger.”

The Greek Culture

Some people consider that the ancient Greeks were the first people to do real science and recognize science as a discipline to pursue for its own sake. Other cultures had made several scientific discoveries before them, however, these were made for purely practical reasons, such as how to build stronger temples or predict when the weather would be suitable for planting crops. On the contrary, the Ancient Greeks’ works were not practical purpose in mind. The reward, which they explored the world, is the pleasure of increasing their knowledge. For example, they studies geometry for its logic and beauty.

Archimedes spent most of his life in Syracuse. As a young man he spent time in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Archimedes studied geometry and astronomy in Alexandria, which be known as the "greatest intellectual center in the ancient world".

The Egypt Culture

When Archimedes was young, he developed his natural curiosity and penchant for problem solving. Therefore, Archimedes traveled to Alexandria, Egypt in order to study as much as he could from his teachers, Euclid. In 331 BC, Alexandria had founded by Alexander the Great. In the era of Archimedes, Alexandria earned a reputation for great learning and scholarship. Euclid was one of the most well-known scholars who lived in Ancient city of Alexandria. The most distinguished book of Euclid is "Euclid's Elements", which contains the famous "Parallel Postulate". Euclid also had some works about perspectives, conic sections, spherical geometry and number theory. Based on his significant contributions in mathematics, Euclid was honored as the "founder of geometry". Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Euclid provided a positive impact to the progress of Archimedes in various aspects.

After his studies in Alexandria, Archimedes returned to his hometown Syracuse and pursued a life of thought and invention. Many biographies and memoirs recorded how Archimedes dedicated his intelligence for the King Hiero II, discovering solutions to problems that vexed the king.



Reference List

Stein, S. K. (1999). Archimedes : what did he do besides cry eureka?. Washington, D.C. : Mathematical Association of America, c1999.

Archimedes, & Heath, T. S. (1897). The works of Archimedes. Cambridge, University Press, 1897.

Artmann, B. (1999). Euclid : the creation of mathematics. New York : Springer, c1999.