Berryman, Sylvia A. (Author)
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Volume: 111
Issue: 3
Pages: 562-567
In 1958 A. G. Drachmann examined the ancient reports concerning Archimedes’ demonstration that he could haul a ship single-handedly. This story is often associated with Archimedes’ boast, “Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.” The reports concerning Archimedes’ ship-hauling feat offer conflicting accounts of the technology used: pulleys, overhead crane, windlass, or screw. Drachmann suggested that the device used was actually a composite of pulley, windlass, and screw. However, scholarship on Archimedes has overlooked a passing remark by the Neoplatonist Olympiodorus, which links Archimedes’ boast about moving the Earth to the invention of a device called a baroulkos. Although the baroulkos is generally thought to have been invented three centuries later, this essay argues that Olympiodorus’s ascription of it to Archimedes makes most sense of the testimonia and that this overlooked piece of evidence makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Hellenistic technology.
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