Athenaeus Mechanicus is the author of a book on

siegecraft A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...

, ''On Machines'' ( grc, Περὶ μηχανημάτων '). He is identified by modern scholars with Athenaeus of Seleucia, a member of the

Peripatetic school The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...

active in the mid-to-late 1st century BC, at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and elsewhere.Serafina Cuomo, review of Gatto 2010
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.11.35
/ref>Duncan B. Campbell, review of Whitehead and Blyth 2004

/ref>

Life

Strabo mentions a contemporary of his, Athenaeus of Seleucia, a Peripatetic philosopher. He was for some time the leading demagogue in his native city, but afterwards came to Rome and became acquainted with Lucius Licinius Varro Murena. On the discovery of the plot which the latter, with Fannius Caepio, had entered into against

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, Athenaeus accompanied him in his flight. He was retaken, but pardoned by Augustus, as there was no evidence of his having taken a more active part in the plot. William Smith, ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'', p
400
. He is perhaps the same person as the writer mentioned by

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, a historian who mentioned

Semiramis ''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dr ...

''On Machines''

The treatise is addressed to

Marcus Claudius Marcellus Marcus Claudius Marcellus (; 270 – 208 BC), five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Marcellus gained the most prestigious award a Roma ...

, and thus will have been composed before Marcellus' death in 23 BC (and possibly at a time when its addressee was preparing to go out on campaign). It describes a number of

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

s. Among the earlier mechanicians cited as sources by Athenaeus are Agesistratus,

Diades of Pella Diades of Pella ( grc, Διάδης Πελλαίος ''Diadis Pelleos''), surnamed the "Besieger" ( ''Poliorkitis''), was a Thessalian inventor of many siege engines, student of Philip II's military engineer Polyidus of Thessaly. He lived in the 4 ...

, and

Philo of Byzantium Philo of Byzantium ( el, , ''Phílōn ho Byzántios'', ca. 280 BC – ca. 220 BC), also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer, physicist and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC. Although he was f ...

. Whitehead and Blyth analyze the treatise into a preface, a section on "good practice," a section on "bad practice," a section on Athenaeus' own innovations, and an epilogue "emphasizing preparation for war as a deterrent, and defending Athenaeus' own record against unnamed critics." The work is technical but not without signs of Athenaeus' philosophical culture: "He comes across as a philosopher, and he expounds about time and opportunity, but also claims to be enough of a technical expert to devise new machines, and to describe old ones accurately." Much of Athenaeus' work (9.4-27.6) is closely parallel to

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

, '' De architectura'' 10.13-16, a fact probably to be explained by the two authors' shared reliance on a common source.Whitehead and Blyth 2004, p. 14

Influence

The tenth-century ''

poliorketikon A poliorceticon ( el, πολιορκητικόν, also transliterated ''poliorketikon'', ''poliorketika'' in the plural) is any member of the genre of Byzantine literature dealing with manuals on siege warfare, which is formally known as poliorcet ...

'' of

Hero of Byzantium Hero of Byzantium (or Heron of Byzantium or sometimes Hero the Younger) ( el, Ἥρων) is a name used to refer to the anonymous Byzantine author of two treatises, commonly known as ''Parangelmata Poliorcetica'' and ''Geodesia'', composed in the ...

, ''Parangelmata Poliorcetica'', draws on Athenaeus as a source.

Editions

* Carl(e) Wescher, ''Poliorcétique des Grecs''. Paris, 1867. (online
Google Booksarchive.org
* Rudolf Schneider, ''Griechische Poliorketiker''. ''Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen: philologisch-historische Klasse'', neue Folge, 12:5. Berlin, 1912. * David Whitehead, P.H. Blyth, ''Athenaeus Mechanicus, On Machines''. ''Historia-Einzelschrift'', 182. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004. * Maurizio Gatto (ed.), ''Il Peri mechanematon di Ateneo meccanico. Edizione critica, traduzione, commento e note''. ''Aio'' 567. Roma: Aracne editrice, 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athenaeus Mechanicus Ancient Greek military engineers Ancient Greek military writers Roman-era Peripatetic philosophers Roman-era philosophers in Rome 1st-century BC philosophers