"''Nōlī turbāre circulōs meōs!''" is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

phrase, meaning "Do not disturb my circles!". It is said to have been uttered by

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

—in reference to a geometric figure he had outlined on the sand—when he was confronted by a Roman soldier during the Siege of Syracuse prior to being killed.

Origin

According to Valerius Maximus, the phrase was uttered by the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

mathematician and astronomer

. When the Romans conquered the city of

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

after the siege of 214–212 BC, the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus gave the order to retrieve Archimedes. Some soldiers entered the house of Archimedes and one of the soldiers asked Archimedes who he was. But, according to Valerius Maximus ( ''Facta et dicta memorabilia'', Book VIII.7), Archimedes just answered ''Noli, obsecro, istum disturbare'' ("Do not, I entreat you, disturb that (sand)"), because he was so engrossed in the circles drawn on the sand in front of him. After that, one of the soldiers killed Archimedes, despite the order of Marcus Claudius Marcellus.

Authenticity

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

does not mention the quote in his ''

Parallel Lives Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...

''. Valerius Maximus (''Facta et dicta memorabilia'', Book VIII.7) attests the Latin form "''noli ... istum disturbare''" ("I ask you not to disturb that sand"). Valerius' is the only version of the phrase that survives from antiquity. In the modern era, it was paraphrased as ''Noli turbare circulos meos'' and then translated to

Katharevousa Greek Katharevousa ( el, Καθαρεύουσα, , literally "purifying anguage) is a conservative form of the Modern Greek language conceived in the late 18th century as both a literary language and a compromise between Ancient Greek and the contempor ...

as "μή μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε!" (''Mē mou tous kuklous taratte!'').

References

{{reflist Latin words and phrases Greek words and phrases Quotations from science Last words