My Final Days - Archimedes III

I have been living in my rooms for the last few months. It hurts too much to move much as old age is finally catching up with me. My studies of trajectories and spheres are coming along and it is due to this that I can now spend my time documenting my success. With painstaking calculation I have discovered that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter IS constant. Many people, including the king, can’t see the value behind such a discovery, but a number of approximations have been given up to this point by many cultures: the Babylonians, Egyptians, and even the Chinese. I view it as a particular accomplishment of mine, spending hours upon hours, day after day, transcribing polygons to get as close to the answer as possible. With this work, and this new factor I have named pi, the world of mathematics has come into a new age. I am confident that my work will have impact for ages to come. The king of Syracuse is - of course - not pleased with my work, but as the years wear on and the siege of the city continues, everyone is getting worn down. Although I still create weapons for him, I find that the romans have worn the city down and will soon be taking over. The guilt I used to feel and the fear of the romans’ blades have long since faded. Nothing seems that important anymore, least of all death. I have found my own form of immortality that will keep my name alive throughout time. just for the sake of it, however, i will add some of my favorite old sketches that I've done for the king of syracuse. 

This is perhaps my favorite invention. it is a pump, a screw to "suck" up water. syracuse has found it ver useful to move lots of water very quickly throughout the city. it is a machine of luxury, and perhaps a little of

survival.  this was one of the first things i proposed to the old king, and it let me make use of many of the geometric principles that i find so intriguing. that was, of course, back in my peaceful days,  when i had just come back brazen and hot headed from egypt. what time - and war - does to a man.

a roman trireme being raised out of the water with my pulley and weight systems before being sent crashing back to the waves and rent apart. the realities of how my life has changed since then startle me. the war with rome, the practical loss of my freedom, the work that has ended up enthralling me and the things that have taken up so much of my time. it seems sad how little of my life's work is actually note worthy and memorable. yes, i am glorified in the streets, but how long will that last? i take comfort, knowing that my mathematical endeavors will last. 

Let's see... How do I begin? - Kepler

     I don’t think I quite understand the point of this blogging thing, and I would much rather be outside enjoying such a clear night. Well, I suppose as the owner of my blog I owe my readers a bit of background on my life. In 1571 I was born in Germany within the city of Weil de Stadt. I was the first of seven children in the family and very sickly throughout my childhood. As were many other children at this time. Three of my dear siblings made it no further than childhood. I suppose not enough was known about the human body and medicine to keep the death rates low. My Father was a mercenary soldier; always running off to work and never home with us. He left one day when I was five and we never saw him again, though I hold no grudge against him for leaving me alone in such a state, but still while it was stressful, at least for a while I still had mother. As for my mother she spent her days taking care of us children and assisting her own father in his inn. In fact, everyone assisted at the inn wherever they could. Between those who were old enough to be of use and those who stayed from an early grave we were never short on hands.

     As I grew up mother made sure her children were well in contact with the Lord. Even as I made my way through the worlds of mathematics and astronomy I made sure to keep my faith intact, like a well honed sword as I fought my way across the battlefield of the universe’s endless concepts to be discussed, theorized, and poured over. In each of my discoveries, theories, and laws I made sure to keep God in the foreground. For he was the creator of all we have about us to study, still watches over us all to this very moment, and always will J. Though my Mother did feed my religious side, she left to be with Father somewhere far off for quite a while. The separation from both my parents was quite painful, but I was left with Grandfather Heinrich at the inn. He valued the idea of me getting an education and sent me to local schools. However, Grandfather didn’t wish to pay to send me to school, so he had me working full time at the inn. Until business died down that is. With a decrease in customers, there was no real reason to hold back on my education. With some generous coaxing by my former teachers I headed off to continue my schooling with a scholarship from the Duke of Württemberg and a reluctant approval from my parents. Well I suppose that this will be enough for now. I don't want to bore anyone too much with stories of an old scholars childhood.

A Temple to the Gods - Pythagoras

Blog Post 3: c. 510 BCE A Temple to the Gods

My Dear Mathematikoi,

Many of you are due to receive this letter of welcome into my tutelage, and with the grace of the Gods, all of you will join me in Croton to form the “semicircle.” I have invited you to study, under my guidance, the questions of goodness, justice and expediency. What ensues in this letter is an exploration into the ideas we will expand and examine.

First, however, let me explain my qualifications. I have seen life in all its beauty and death in its all-consuming darkness. I have studied the holiest rites with the Maogi and the Egyptian Priesthood. I have known the truths of the number language; and if you wish to work with me, I too, will instruct you in the language of the Gods.

If you choose to join me, you must hold these truths holy as I do: everything is mathematical in nature, philosophy is the act of purifying the spirit, our souls can join with the Gods and reside in the heavenly halls, certain symbols hold divine significance and we must hold them as sacred, and finally; and most importantly, all members of the “semicircle” must observe a very strict code of secrecy. We will live together in holy matrimony with the Gods and we shall live through a code of purity. We must abstain from unholy foods, wearing the skins of the dead, and engaging in any unholy acts. And finally to enter my school, all of you must take a two-year vow of silence to quiet your minds and open your mental ear to the song of the Gods.

I encourage you to take time out from your studies to realize how surrounded and immersed in numbers we all are. Look about you and count; and if you can, identify all these holy numbers and their meanings. Numbers are not just for counting the coppers after a hard day at the market. No, numbers are like us; they think and feel, they have strengths and weakness, aspirations and loves. My friends gaze into the hall of the Gods on a clear night and see how their wisdom rains down upon in the form of these such numbers. Look for such wisdom even in the triangular façade of your magistrate’s stronghold.

In this message, I leave for you a gift of sorts. Triangles, yes, those stubborn and mathematically heretical structures are, in fact, beautiful. I will attach an illustration alongside this description, yet I beseech you to bear with the process. Imagine that you have three squares, and that one is larger than the other two; carefully, place the square so that two vertices of each are connected to one of the other two squares. Now examine the space in between this new structure of squares. A triangle is it not? But look more closely; see that this triangle has a much larger side formed from the largest square. Let us call that the hypotenuse. Now each side must be in a relationship with the other, yes? However, notice that it is the square from which these side are formed that provides the relationship, yet if you attempt to find the length of the hypotenuse if its square is thirteen suddenly our commonsensical numbers fail us.

I challenge you to prove this theorem for yourself, and upon deliverance to me I will grant you full access to the years of work I, too, have performed upon such beautiful shapes as triangles.

I wish you the best of luck and the expediency of the Gods in your journey,

Pythagoras

Look at how a triangle need not be matter filling space, but the space between matter.

War is upon us - Archimedes II

Years have passed since my last engravings, and I am no longer the brash young man I was then. Settling in simply in the palace has greatly enabled my studies, but rest is rarely gotten due to the war that is now upon us. Roman expansion is threatening the little city of Syracuse that I hold so dear. More and more my time is devoted to inventing war machines for my little cousin, the new king. The Romans are holding siege of us, and I have been shutting myself away in my apartments more and more. Inventions such as my water screw help keep the city supplied, and my use of levers to launch objects towards enemy ships in our waters is helping keep the Romans temporarily at bay, but the devotion to such devices comes at a price. I no longer have time for my theories. My work with spheres has been put on indefinite hold, and now I spend my time pouring over calculations for trajectories. Drawings of claws to lift boats and mirrors to burn ships littler my work table, and I had completely forgotten the writing I had started in my younger days when I was just excited to be back at my home. My work now brings no enjoyment to me. I used to go out to watch my designs be built and used, but for every tree cut for the arm of one of my catapults I can only hear the screams of the drowning Roman men. War seems so pointless. Of course, I am heralded in the city as a hero but I find the work tasteless. The only thing I have found absorbing with these killing machines are the results I’ve been experiencing with the differences in the arcs of my machines. I’ve been wondering about this and have been formulating theories using the summation of infinitesimal differences. I do not yet know where these findings of mine are headed, but as I am at this very moment finishing my latest design for the king I will able to have some time to myself. The young master seems to think the more fantastical a device the better it will work. This latest piece involves a giant claw to grab Roman vessels in the water and dash them on the rocks before pushing them back to deeper waters to sink. This follows the last design involving levers and hooks to lift the ship from the water and smack drop it back to its demise. I know that this war is nowhere near over although I have tired of it. I hope I will have more time to my own devices in the near future. 

In the Belly of the Beast - Pythagoras

Blog Post 2: c.525 BCE. In the Belly of the Beast

To the World, its Creatures, and all alive who bear witness,

I know not how long and wherefore I shall live out my days, for I am no longer in control of my life. Persia has come back, this time to Egypt under the reign of Cambyses the second of his name. Thankfully, my studies with the priesthood have provided such a deep assimilation into Egyptian society that the Persians have not noticed that I am of Athenian stock. So I am off to Babylon, for slavery or enlightenment, I know not.

I have heard from my priestly mentors that the Maogi of Babylon, their native priesthood, far older and more learned than the Egyptian Priesthood, have often welcomed strangers from the west. However, I hope such a friendship will free me from the shackles of slaver tyranny for I am merely days away from such bondage. I reside in the acolyte barracks of the Egyptian Priesthood’s stronghold, well fortified within the center of our city. However, I fear that within the fortnight Persian siege weapons will break us.

It is almost comical that these two cultures, so esteemed in their sacred worship of the Gods, can so violently destroy one another and their holy sites. As for myself, my numbers still haunt me everyday, for they lead me to the beauty of the Gods. Except in the past days it has been the numbers of death I have seen. Numbers reside everywhere, especially in death, and that is why everything can be reduced to numbers. I spoke with a priest the other day about the hunting party that was beheaded and returned to us by the Persian, saying “There were three men in the party and two boys, and all were killed, making five deaths in total. Therefore 3 + 5 must equal 9.” To this statement the priest replied, “yes, but nine what? What are you talking about?” Numbers my friend, I speak of the one truth I can place my life upon: everything in this world and everything that happens can be seen in numbers, giving us a language of sorts. Allowing us to speak in numbers and purely number, the true language of the Gods.

Alas, it is in the throes of the death of this holy city that I see the pain of the Gods. So wrong is it for brother and brother to raise a hand and destroy their mutual worship of holiness. No one should fight – destroy – for in all this chaos the work of the Gods and the men who pursue the holiest knowledge work in peril and die younger. My aforementioned acquaintance, the priest of whom I spoke was recently killed by a Persian patrol as he made his visit to the funeral temple outside the city gates.

And it is with such fear for my life that I find exhilaration in my work. I am alive, living each moment as I had hoped it would be. Yet I must leave this record, for if I am to die, another must assume the heavenly work of numbers. It is in this stone that I consecrate and record my thoughts so that my work may not be in vein.

Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus.

Here is a map of my travels. I started in Samos, then traveled to Egypt, where I was sent to Babylon (home of the Persians), and finally I ended my days founding the "semicircle" of Pythagoras in Croton. 

Home! Archimedes I

Archimedes’ First Blog Post

Judging by the title, you can probably guess that this is the first blog post I’ve ever written. Just got back in town after graduating and wanted to make a permanent record of my life. I’m a little nervous because what’s fun, exciting, or important to me may not be to you. But, I guess this is my blog so I can chisel what I want!

Sooo… I guess I should start by introducing myself. My name is Archimedes, son of Phidias and, although I’m not one to broadcast this, I’m also related to king heiron which is pretty sweet. I’m really into math. I do it for fun when I’m not studying. I went to school in Alexandria Egypt, which was pretty sick, but it was one of those super secretive Egyptian priesthood schools, and they had some pretty strict rules and not all of them were as smart as me. But I was cool with it and it gave me time to adventure into some other pastimes.

I’m a huge inventor. I know I’m just going to be famous one day. I already have some ideas to show my dad when I get home, but until then I’m planning to hit up the sights.

  This is a postcard I picked up on my way home from Alexandria. Stopped to chill in Athens for a while and boy does it live up to its reputation of a party town. My time there was great – and the food’s amazing too. Went banqueting basically every night and it was amazing, just gorging and puking all the time. That’s the life! too bad my dad’s so strict with me.I even consider myself lucky he let me go to school so far away. Whatever I say about the creepy cult priests, they were good teachers. They got me thinking in different ways. The school was founded by Euclid, one of my idols. He’s the one who got me hooked on geometry and math in general. He made me realize that. That’s me on the right doing the classic “Euclid pose”. Everyone in our school does it, except I’m the only one who can really pull off the look given that I was born with a giant fluffy white beard.

in all seriousness though, I’ve discovered that I’m in love with numbers. I’ve been working on a theory I’m calling “calculus”. We’ll see if that goes anywhere.

Letter to Thales - Pythagoras

Blog post 1: c.555 BCE. Letter to Thales

Dear Thales,

How long it has been since we have walked in your halls pondering the ways of the universe. I hope you are well with your new pupils. I have just completed my expedition to Egypt as you have encouraged me. I am eager to pursue the Egyptian Mysteries. But I must say, over my voyage, I have developed my own set of mysteries, for our world is filled with the music of the Gods.

I see numbers everywhere, just like your trios in philosophy; I see numbers in all forms of life. There are three types of men for example: he who goes to the games to buy and sell (the lowliest), he who comes to compete (the admirable), and he who comes to observe (the highest); three types I say, those who love gain, honor, or wisdom. And it us and others like ourselves, the lovers of wisdom, who can see the world with the Eyes of the Gods. Like myself, we men (philosophers), are of Gods and men.

I see it in music with the givens like hot and cold. Let me show you, for each sound you may whistle there is a corresponding opposite which is pleasing, similar to the notes above and below, yet leave and movement of threes or opposites and you hear dissonance. Listen to a bird call, how they chirp in threes. And it is in threes that such harmonies are found. Tell me, can these mysteries be seen through numbers? For I have found with my own senses beauty in the world, music in my eyes, and the work of the Gods all around us.

I fret my dear teacher, for by the time I see you next I will be inducted into a new look on life, and you will be too old to teach. The burden of knowledge and forging the minds of our young rests upon your students now. I have thought of such a school; a beautiful sanctuary. I would finally introduce women as we do men, for they are of the same stock. We would all eat properly, live well, and in a marriage unto ourselves. Our own world, our little pantheon where we could all follow Pythagoras. Did you too feel that mix of fear and pride when you, too, began to teach?

Alas I must end this letter dear friend, for the night is upon us and I must resume my travels to the initiation and await my fate. One must not linger long in these parts for Croton cannot keep his peace and slavers are about. I pray I will not have to confront them. As I said, when you hear the song of the birds listen, for they speak the language of our trios. I feel the current of a deep truth beneath these thoughts. Please ponder this and write me your thoughts on these matters. The more we toil, the more the language of the Gods unravels, and for that reason I continue my studies of music.

With you in mind,

Pythagoras

Caption: The work I have been doing in music theory where I have found the trios and the characteristics of numbers; their strengths their weaknesses, even their relationship to the heavens.