Eutocius of Ascalon (; ; 480s – 520s) was a Greek mathematician who wrote commentaries on several Archimedean treatises and on the Apollonian ''Conics''.

Life and work

Little is known about the life of Eutocius. He was born in

Ascalon Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limi ...

, then in Palestina Prima and lived during the reign of Justinian. Eutocius probably became the head of the

Alexandrian school The Alexandrian school is a collective designation for certain tendencies in literature, philosophy, medicine, and the sciences that developed in the Hellenistic cultural center of Alexandria, Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Alex ...

following Ammonius, and he was succeeded in this position by Olympiodorus, possibly as early as 525. From his testimony, it seems he traveled to other cultural centers of his time to find missing manuscripts. Eutocius wrote commentaries on

Apollonius Apollonius () is a masculine given name which may refer to: People Ancient world Artists * Apollonius of Athens (sculptor) (fl. 1st century BC) * Apollonius of Tralles (fl. 2nd century BC), sculptor * Apollonius (satyr sculptor) * Apo ...

and on

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...

. The surviving commentaries are: *A Commentary on the first four books of the '' Conics'' of Apollonius. *Commentaries on Archimedes' work: **''

On the Sphere and Cylinder ''On the Sphere and Cylinder'' () is a treatise that was published by Archimedes in two volumes . It most notably details how to find the surface area of a sphere and the volume of the contained ball and the analogous values for a cylinder, and w ...

'' I-II. **''

Measurement of the Circle ''Measurement of a Circle'' or ''Dimension of the Circle'' (Greek: , ''Kuklou metrēsis'') is a treatise that consists of three propositions, probably made by Archimedes, ca. 250 BCE. The treatise is only a fraction of what was a longer work. Pr ...

'' (Latin: ''In Archimedis Dimensionem Circuli''). ** ''On the Equilibrium'' ''of Planes'' I-II. *An introduction to Book I of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''

Almagest The ''Almagest'' ( ) is a 2nd-century Greek mathematics, mathematical and Greek astronomy, astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy ( ) in Koine Greek. One of the most i ...

''. Historians owe much of their knowledge of Archimedes' solution of a cubic by means of intersecting conics, alluded to in ''On the Sphere and Cylinder'', to Eutocius and his commentaries. Eutocius dedicated his commentary on Apollonius' ''Conics'' to Anthemius of Tralles, also a mathematician and the architect of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

.Boyer, p. 193. "Eutocius (born ca. 480), commented on several Archimedean treatises and on the Apollonian ''Conics''. It is to Eutocius that we owe the Archimedean solution of a cubic through intersecting conics, referred to in ''The Sphere and Cylinder'' but not otherwise extant except through the commentary of Eutocius. The commentary by Eutocius on the ''Conics'' of Apollonius was dedicated to Anthemius of Tralles (t534), an able mathematician and architect of St. Sophia of Constantinople."

References

Sources

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External links

* {{Authority control 480s births 520s deaths Ancient Greek geometers Ancient Greeks from Ascalon 6th-century mathematicians 6th-century Byzantine writers 6th-century Byzantine scientists