Harpalus or Harpalos ( el, ) is a name reported by modern historical books (
tertiary source
A tertiary source is an index or textual consolidation of already published primary and secondary sources[pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry.
...](_blank)
over the
Hellespont (from
Abydos to
Sestos) for
Xerxes in 480 BC. The primary source
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
(7.34-36) gives no specific name, except the following information:
The secondary source may have been some later writer, who may have invented a name in order to provide a name for this impressive engineering achievement, in the manner of
Mandrocles, recorded by Herodotus as bridging the
Bosporus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
for
Darius I. The oldest and relevant source seems to be a work published in 1904 by
Hermann Alexander Diels
Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...
which he titled ''
Laterculi Alexandrini'' ("Alexandrian lists"), out of a damaged 1st or 2nd-century BC
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
he found, which lists artists and scientists by their achievements.
The tertiary sources report the following: ''One of Mandrocles' successors, not named by Herodotus (7.34-36), was Harpalos of
Tenedos
Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos'', ), or Bozcaada in Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Province. With an area of it is the third l ...
who, succeeding where Egyptian and Phoenician engineers had failed, built the bridge over the Hellespont'' (Hofstetter 1978, no. 130; on the bridge, see Hammond and Roseman 1996). ''It is important for a right estimate of
Ionian science to remember the high development of engineering in these days.
Mandrokles of Samos built the bridge over the Bosporos for King Dareios (Herod. iv. 88), and Harpalos of Tenedos bridged the Hellespont for Xerxes when the Egyptians and Phoenicians had failed in the attempt'' (
Diels Diels is the last name of several people:
* Rudolf Diels (1900–1957), German politician
* Otto Diels (1876–1954), German scientist noted for his work on the Diels–Alder reaction
* Ludwig Diels (1874–1945), German botanist
* Hermann Diels
...
, ''Laterculi Alexandrini'', Abh. der Berl. Akad., 1904, p. 8). Harpalus, ''a Macedonian contractor, who took on the bridging project'', according to
Peter Green. ''The astronomer
Harpalus
Harpalus (Greek: Ἅρπαλος) son of Machatas was an aristocrat of Macedon and boyhood friend of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Harpalus was repeatedly entrusted with official roles by Alexander and absconded three times with la ...
supervised the construction of the bridges''. according to
Hugh Pembroke Vowles
Hugh Pembroke Vowles (1885 – 1951) was a British engineer, socialist and author.
Early life and education
Hugh Vowles was the son of Henry Hayes Vowles, a Wesleyan minister, author, and theologian; and of Hannah Elizabeth Thist ...
.
[The quest for power from prehistoric times to the present da]
Page 102
By Hugh P. Vowles, Margaret Winifred Pearce Vowles (1931)
References
{{authority control
People of the Greco-Persian Wars
Ancient Greek engineers
Achaemenid Thrace