3rd century BCE Greek engineer, physicist and writer
Philo of Byzantium
[a]
(
Greek
:
Φ?λων ? Βυζ?ντιο?
,
Phil?n ho Byzantios
,
c.
280 BC
? c.
220 BC
), also known as
Philo Mechanicus
(
Latin
for "Philo the Engineer"), was a Greek engineer, physicist and writer on
mechanics
, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC. Although he was from
Byzantium
he lived most of his life in
Alexandria
, Egypt. He was probably younger than
Ctesibius
, though some place him a century earlier.
Works
[
edit
]
Philo was the author of a large work, the
Syntaxis
(
Μηχανικ? Σ?νταξη
,
M?khanik? Syntax?
),
[b]
which contained the following sections:
[1]
- Isagoge (
Ε?σαγωγ?
,
Eisag?g?
) ? Introduction (general mathematics)
- Mochlica (
Μοχλικ?
,
Mokhlika
) ? Leverage (mechanics)
- Limenopoeica (
Λιμενοποιικ?
,
Limenopoiika
) ?
Harbour
Construction
- Belopoeica (
Βελοποιικ?
,
Belopoiika
) ?
Siege Engine
Construction
- Pneumatica (
Πνευματικ?
,
Pneumatika
) ?
Pneumatics
- Automatopoeica (
Α?τοματοποιητικ?
,
Automatopoi?tika
) ?
Automatons
(mechanical toys and diversions)
- Parasceuastica (
Παρασκευαστικ?
,
Paraskeuastika
) ? Preparations (for
sieges
)
[c]
- Poliorcetica (
Πολιορκητικ?
,
Poliork?tika
) ? Siegecraft
- Peri Epistolon (
Περ? ?πιστολ?ν
,
Peri Epistol??n
) ? On Letters (coding and hidden letters for military use)
The military sections
Belopoeica
and
Poliorcetica
are extant in Greek, detailing missiles, the construction of fortresses, provisioning, attack and defence, as are fragments of
Isagoge
and
Automatopoeica
(ed. R. Schone, 1893, with German translation in Hermann August Theodor Kochly's
Griechische Kriegsschriftsteller
, vol. i. 1853; E. A. Rochas d'Aiglun,
Poliorcetique des Grecs
, 1872).
Another portion of the work, on pneumatic engines, has been preserved in the form of a Latin translation (
De Ingeniis Spiritualibus
) of an Arabic translation (ed. W. Schmidt, with German translation, in the works of
Heron of Alexandria
, vol. i., in the
Teubner
series, 1899; with French translation by Rochas,
La Science des philosophes... dans l'antiquite
, 1882). Further portions probably survive in a derivative form, incorporated into the works of
Vitruvius
and of
Arabic
authors.
The
Philo line
, a geometric construction that can be used to
double the cube
, is attributed to Philo.
Devices
[
edit
]
According to recent research, a section of Philo's
Pneumatics
which so far has been regarded as a later Arabic interpolation, includes the first description of a
water mill
in history,
[2]
placing the invention of the water mill in the mid-third century BC by the Greeks.
[3]
Philo's works also contain the oldest known application of a chain drive in a
repeating crossbow
. Two flat-linked chains were connected to a
windlass
, which by winding back and forth would automatically fire the machine's arrows until its magazine was empty.
[4]
Philo also was the first to describe a
gimbal
: an eight-sided
ink
pot that could be turned any way without spilling and expose the ink on top. This was done by the suspension of the inkwell at the centre, which was mounted on a series of concentric metal rings which remained stationary no matter which way the pot turns.
[5]
In his
Pneumatics
(chapter 31) Philo describes an
escapement
mechanism, the earliest known, as part of a
washstand
.
[6]
A counterweighted spoon, supplied by a water tank, tips over in a basin when full releasing a pumice in the process. Once the spoon has emptied, it is pulled up again by the counterweight, closing the door on the pumice by the tightening string. Remarkably, Philo's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapements mechanism were already integrated in ancient water clocks.
[6]
He is also credited with the construction of the first thermoscope (or Philo thermometer), an early version of the thermometer.
[7]
Mathematics
[
edit
]
In mathematics, Philo tackled the problem of
doubling the cube
. The doubling of the cube was necessitated by the following problem: given a catapult, construct a second catapult that is capable of firing a projectile twice as heavy as the projectile of the first catapult. His solution was to find the point of intersection of a rectangular
hyperbola
and a
circle
, a solution that is similar to the solution given by
Hero of Alexandria
several centuries later.
Apocrypha
[
edit
]
A treatise titled "
Seven Wonders of the World
" (
Περ? τ?ν ?πτ? Θεαμ?των
,
Peri t??n Hepta Theamat?n
)
[d]
is sometimes attributed to this Philo but more probably belongs to a different Philo of Byzantium, distinguished as Philo the Paradoxographer, who lived in a much later date, probably the 4th?5th century AD.
[8]
[9]
It is printed in
R. Hercher
's edition of Aelian (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1858); an English translation by Jean Blackwood is included as an appendix in
The Seven Wonders of the World
by Michael Ashley (Glasgow: Fontana Paperbacks, 1980).
See also
[
edit
]
- Chain pump
- William M. Murray,
The Age of Titans ? the rise and fall of the great Hellenistic navies
. New York, Oxford University Press, 2012. Appenedix E: Book V of Philo's
Compendium of Mechanics
? The Naval Sections (translated to English), pp. 282?301 .
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The name also appears, less often, as
Philon
,
Philon of Byzantium
,
Philo Byzantium
, and
Philo Byzanticus
.
- ^
Also various translated as the
Compendium of Mechnics
, the
Engineering Compendium
, the
Compendium
, and
Mechanical Collections
.
- ^
The Parasceuastica and Poliorcetica are typically translated together as "On Sieges"
- ^
The title is also frequently given in Latin as
De Septem Mundi Miraculis
,
De VII Mundi Miraculis
, or
De 7 Mundi Miraculis
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Philip Rance,
'Philo of Byzantium'
in R.S. Bagnall & al. (edd.),
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
(Chichester, 2013) 5266-8.
- ^
M. J. T. Lewis,
Millstone and Hammer: the origins of water power
(University of Hull Press 1997), pp. 1?73 especially 44?45 and 58?60.
- ^
Wilson, Andrew
(2002): "Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy",
The Journal of Roman Studies
, Vol. 92, pp. 1?32 (7f.)
- ^
Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley: "Ancient Catapults",
Scientific American
, Vol. 240, No. 3 (March 1979), pp. 124?125.
- ^
Sarton, G.
A History of Science, The Norton Library
(Volume 2), 1970, pp. 343?350.
- ^
a
b
Lewis, Michael (2000), "Theoretical Hydraulics, Automata, and Water Clocks", in
Wikander, Orjan
(ed.),
Handbook of Ancient Water Technology
, Technology and Change in History, vol. 2, Leiden, pp. 343?369 (356f.),
ISBN
90-04-11123-9
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
"Joule_biography"
. Archived from
the original
on 1 December 2021.
- ^
Stephanie Dalley
,
The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon; an elusive World wonder traced
Oxford University Press (2013)
ISBN
978-0-19-966226-5
, p39
- ^
Stephanie Dalley, "More about the Hanging Gardens," in
Of Pots and Pans: Papers on the Archaeology and History of Mesopotamia and Syria as presented to
David Oates
on his 75th Birthday
, Edited by L. al-Gailani-Werr, J.E. Curtis, H. Martin, A. McMahon,
J. Oates
and J.E. Reade, (London), pp. 67?73
ISBN
1-897750-62-5
.
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]
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