The Shelves · Natural science
Commentaries (on pneumatics, the water clock, the water organ)
Ὑπομνήματα
Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Natural science: “mechanics”
Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementfl. c. 270 BCE. A barber's son of Alexandria who founded pneumatics: the force pump, a water clock with moving figures, and the water organ (hydraulis). His books are lost; Vitruvius and Philo of Byzantium describe his machines.
Commentaries
Ὑπομνήματα
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
Lost
Known through Vitruvius, Philo of Byzantium, Hero and Athenaeus.
Was it in Alexandria?
Known · AttestedWritten in Alexandria.
In the cupboard: written at Alexandria by a scholar or court writer a source places there.
Read it today
- Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture (Morgan), Project Gutenberg: 9.8 and 10.7-8 · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
III · In the show
The show has not yet spoken of this work.
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references (2)
- Vitruvius 9.8.2-7; 10.7-8
- Athenaeus 4.174b-e; 11.497b-e
Modern scholarship (2)
- A. G. Drachmann, Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1948).
- G. E. R. Lloyd, Greek Science after Aristotle (London: Chatto & Windus, 1973).
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
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