The Shelves · Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

The Method of Mechanical Theorems, addressed to Eratosthenes

Περὶ τῶν μηχανικῶν θεωρημάτων πρὸς Ἐρατοσθένην ἔφοδος

Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Conjecturedvery likely class

Archimedes of Syracuse

c. 287–212 BCE. Worked in Syracuse but wrote to Alexandria: his prefaces address Conon and, after Conon's death, Dositheus there, and the Method is a letter to Eratosthenes. Diodorus says he had been in Egypt.

The Method of Mechanical Theorems, addressed to Eratosthenes

Περὶ τῶν μηχανικῶν θεωρημάτων πρὸς Ἐρατοσθένην ἔφοδος

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in large part

Survives only in the Archimedes Palimpsest, identified by Heiberg in 1906 and re-imaged 1999-2008.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Attested

Acquired for the Library.

In the cupboard: an ancient source reports it entering the collection or the Pinakes.

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III · In the show

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IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references
  • Diodorus Siculus 1.34.2; 5.37.3 (Archimedes in Egypt)
Modern scholarship (2)
  • R. Netz and W. Noel, The Archimedes Codex (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007).
  • T. L. Heath, The Works of Archimedes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1897), with The Method of Archimedes (1912).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

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Beside it in the cupboard