Editing Archimedes (section)

===Death===
[[File:Death of Archimedes (1815) by Thomas Degeorge.png|thumb|''The Death of Archimedes'' (1815) by [[Thomas Degeorge]]]]
There are several divergent accounts of Archimedes' death during the sack of Syracuse after it fell to the Romans:{{sfn|Dijksterhuis|1987|pp=30-31}} The oldest account, from [[Livy]],<ref>Livy, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' Book XXV, 31</ref> says that, while drawing figures in the dust, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier who did not know he was Archimedes. According to Plutarch,<ref>Life of Marcellus, XIX, 1</ref> the soldier demanded that Archimedes come with him, but Archimedes declined, saying that he had to finish working on the problem, and the soldier killed Archimedes with his sword. Another story from Plutarch has Archimedes carrying mathematical instruments before being killed because a soldier thought they were valuable items.{{sfn|Dijksterhuis|1987|pp=30-31}} Another Roman writer, [[Valerius Maximus]] (fl. 30 AD), wrote in ''Memorable Doings and Sayings'' that Archimedes' last words as the soldier killed him were "... but protecting the dust with his hands, said 'I beg of you, do not disturb this." which is similar to the last words now commonly attributed to him, "[[Do not disturb my circles]],"{{efn|{{langx|la|Noli turbare circulos meos}}; {{langx|el|μὴ μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε}})}} which otherwise do not appear in any ancient sources.{{sfn|Dijksterhuis|1987|pp=30-31}}

Marcellus was reportedly angered by Archimedes' death, as he considered him a valuable scientific asset (he called Archimedes "a geometrical [[Hecatoncheires|Briareus]]") and had ordered that he should not be harmed.<ref>Plutarch, Parallel Lives</ref><ref>Jaeger, Mary. ''Archimedes and the Roman Imagination''. p. 113.</ref> [[Cicero]] (106–43 BC) mentions that Marcellus brought to Rome two planetariums Archimedes built,{{sfn|Dijksterhuis|1987|pp=23-25}} which were constructed by Archimedes and which showed the motion of the Sun, Moon and five planets, one of which he donated to the [[Temple of Honor and Virtue|Temple of Virtue]] in Rome, and the other he allegedly kept as his only personal loot from Syracuse."<ref>Cicero, ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14988 De republica]''</ref> [[Pappus of Alexandria]] reports on a now lost treatise by Archimedes ''On Sphere-Making'', which may have dealt with the construction of these mechanisms.{{sfn|Dijksterhuis|1987|p=27}} Constructing mechanisms of this kind would have required a sophisticated knowledge of [[Differential (mechanical device)|differential gearing]], which was once thought to have been beyond the range of the technology available in ancient times, but the discovery in 1902 of the Antikythera mechanism, another device built {{circa|100}} BC designed with a similar purpose, has confirmed that devices of this kind were known to the ancient Greeks,<ref>{{cite web |last=Rorres |first=Chris |title=Spheres and Planetaria |url=http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Sphere/SphereIntro.html |access-date=23 July 2007 |publisher=Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences}}</ref> with some scholars regarding Archimedes' device as a precursor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freeth |first=Tony |date=2022 |title=Wonder of the Ancient World |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/ |journal=Scientific American |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=24 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0122-24 |pmid=39016582 |issn=0036-8733}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Antikythera Mechanism II |url=http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/whatsnew/column/antikytheraII-0500/diff4.html |access-date=25 December 2013 |publisher=[[Stony Brook University]] |archive-date=12 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212212956/http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/whatsnew/column/antikytheraII-0500/diff4.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

While serving as a [[quaestor]] in Sicily, Cicero himself found what was presumed to be Archimedes' tomb near the Agrigentine gate in Syracuse, in a neglected condition and overgrown with bushes. Cicero had the tomb cleaned up and was able to see the carving and read some of the verses that had been added as an inscription. The tomb carried a sculpture illustrating Archimedes' [[On the Sphere and Cylinder|favorite mathematical proof]], that the volume and surface area of the sphere are two-thirds that of an enclosing cylinder including its bases.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rorres |first=Chris |title=Tomb of Archimedes: Sources |url=http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Tomb/Cicero.html |access-date=2 January 2007 |publisher=Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences}}</ref>