Eutocius of Ascalon (; el, Εὐτόκιος ὁ Ἀσκαλωνίτης; 480s – 520s) was a Palestinian-Greek mathematician who wrote commentaries on several Archimedean treatises and on the

Apollonian The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work ''The Birth of Tragedy'' by Fri ...

''Conics''.

Life and work

Little is known about the life of Eutocius. He was born in Ascalon, then in

Palestina Prima Palaestina Prima or Palaestina I was a Byzantine province that existed from the late 4th century until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, in the region of Palestine. It was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in ...

. He lived during the reign of Justinian. Eutocius became head the school of philosophy in Athens following Ammonius and he was succeeded in this position by Olympiodorus, possibly as early as 525. He traveled to the greatest scientific centers of his time, including

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, to conduct research on Archimedes' manuscripts. He wrote commentaries on Apollonius and on

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 scientis ...

. The surviving works of Eutocius are: *A Commentary on the first four books of the ''Conics'' of Apollonius. *Commentarieson: **the ''Sphere and Cylinder'' of Archimedes. **the '' Quadrature of the Circle'' of Archimedes (''In Archimedis circuli dimensionem'' in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ''Two Books on Equilibrium'' of Archimedes. *An introduction to Book I of the ''

Almagest The ''Almagest'' is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it can ...

'' by Ptolemy Historians owe much of their knowledge of Archimedes' solution of a cubic by means of intersecting conics, alluded to in ''The Sphere and Cylinder'', to Eutocius and his commentaries. Eutocius dedicated his commentary on Apollonius' ''Conics'' to

Anthemius of Tralles Anthemius of Tralles ( grc-gre, Ἀνθέμιος ὁ Τραλλιανός, Medieval Greek: , ''Anthémios o Trallianós''; – 533 558) was a Greek from Tralles who worked as a geometer and architect in Constantinople, the ca ...

, also a mathematician, and architect of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

patriarchal basilica in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

.Boyer, p. 193. "Eutocius (born ca. 480), commented on several Archimedean treatises and on the Apollonian ''Conics''. It is to Eutocius that we owe the Archimedean solution of a cubic through intersecting conics, referred to in ''The Sphere and Cylinder'' but not otherwise extant except through the commentary of Eutocius. The commentary by Eutocius on the ''Conics'' of Apollonius was dedicated to Anthemius of Tralles (t534), an able mathematician and architect of St. Sophia of Constantinople."

References

Sources

* *

External links

* {{Authority control 480 births 540 deaths Ancient Greek mathematicians 6th-century mathematicians 6th-century Byzantine writers 6th-century Byzantine scientists