Ctesibius: Difference between revisions – Wikipedia

 

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Ctesibius was the son of a barber, born {{circa|300}} BCE, probably{{snd}}but not certainly{{snd}}in Alexandria.{{efn|There is no direct evidence for the place of birth of Ctesibius. He is given {{lang|la|Alexandrinus}}, {{lit|the Alexandrian}}, as “an ethnic” or “a [[wikt:deme|deme]]” (the element in traditional Greek onomastic formulae ascribing geographic or ethnic origin),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rizakis |first1=Athanasios |editor1=Robert Parker |title=Changing Names: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Greek Onomastics |date=April 2019 |publisher=British Academy |isbn=978-0-19-188424-5 |url-access= subscription|url=https://academic.oup.com/british-academy-scholarship-online/book/37130 |language=en |chapter=New Identities in the Greco-Roman East: Cultural and Legal Implications of the Use of Roman Names |doi=10.5871/bacad/9780197266540.003.0011 |pages=237–257}}</ref> in early mentions and reference to his work, including by [[Vitruvius]] ({{BCE|1st century}}) in {{lang|la|[[De Architectura]]}}.<ref>{{cite book |author =Vitruvius |title=De Architectura |at= Book IX, Chapter 8.2}}</ref>}}<ref name=”hoff”>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hoffmann |first1=James J. |editor1=Neil Schlager |others=Associate editor: Josh Lauer |title=Ctesibius of Alexandria |date=2001 |pages=400–401 |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-002-827/page/n373/mode/2up |encyclopedia =Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery |volume =1 ”2000 BC to AD 699”|publisher=Gale Group|quote=Ctesibius (also spelled Ktesibios) was a Greek physicist and inventor who was probably born in Alexandria sometime around 300 B.C. He was the first of many Greeks to become part of the great ancient engineering tradition in Alexandria.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollard |first1=Justin |last2=Reid |first2=Howard |page=130 |title=The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0143112518 |chapter=The Clockwork City}}</ref> He began his career as a [[barber]], following his father.<ref name=”hoff”/>

Ctesibius was the son of a barber, born {{circa|300}} BCE, probably{{snd}}but not certainly{{snd}}in Alexandria.{{efn|There is no direct evidence for the place of birth of Ctesibius. He is given {{lang|la|Alexandrinus}}, {{lit|the Alexandrian}}, as “an ethnic” or “a [[wikt:deme|deme]]” (the element in traditional Greek onomastic formulae ascribing geographic or ethnic origin),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rizakis |first1=Athanasios |editor1=Robert Parker |title=Changing Names: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Greek Onomastics |date=April 2019 |publisher=British Academy |isbn=978-0-19-188424-5 |url-access= subscription|url=https://academic.oup.com/british-academy-scholarship-online/book/37130 |language=en |chapter=New Identities in the Greco-Roman East: Cultural and Legal Implications of the Use of Roman Names |doi=10.5871/bacad/9780197266540.003.0011 |pages=237–257}}</ref> in early mentions and reference to his work, including by [[Vitruvius]] ({{BCE|1st century}}) in {{lang|la|[[De Architectura]]}}.<ref>{{cite book |author =Vitruvius |title=De Architectura |at= Book IX, Chapter 8.2}}</ref>}}<ref name=”hoff”>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hoffmann |first1=James J. |editor1=Neil Schlager |others=Associate editor: Josh Lauer |title=Ctesibius of Alexandria |date=2001 |pages=400–401 |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-002-827/page/n373/mode/2up |encyclopedia =Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery |volume =1 ”2000 BC to AD 699”|publisher=Gale Group|quote=Ctesibius (also spelled Ktesibios) was a Greek physicist and inventor who was probably born in Alexandria sometime around 300 B.C. He was the first of many Greeks to become part of the great ancient engineering tradition in Alexandria.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollard |first1=Justin |last2=Reid |first2=Howard |page=130 |title=The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0143112518 |chapter=The Clockwork City}}</ref> He began his career as a [[barber]], following his father.<ref name=”hoff”/>

[[File:Hydraulis organ of Ctesibius.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Ctesibius’ hydraulis at the [[Museum of Ancient Greek Technology|Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology]], in [[Athens]], [[Greece]].]]

[[File:Hydraulis organ of Ctesibius.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Ctesibius’ hydraulis at the [[Museum of Ancient Greek Technology|Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology]], in [[Athens]], [[Greece]].]]

During this first career, he invented a [[counterweight]]-adjustable [[mirror]]. Another of his inventions was the [[hydraulis]], a water organ that is considered the precursor of the modern [[pipe organ]] and the first keyboard instrument. He and his wife Thais were reputed to be highly-skilled players of the instrument. It is believed that he improved the hydraulics by forcing air though the pipes using the weight of water, instead of using falling lead weights. He improved the [[water clock]] or clepsydra (‘water thief’), which for more than 1,800 years was the most accurate clock ever constructed, until the Dutch physicist [[Christiaan Huygens]]’ invention of the [[pendulum clock]] in 1656. Ctesibius described one of the first [[Force pump|force pumps]] for producing a jet of water, or for lifting water from wells. Examples have been found at various Roman sites, such as at [[Silchester]] in Britain. The principle of the [[siphon]] has also been attributed to him. He is also believed to have invented an air-powered catapult with his knowledge of compressed air. His inventions are only known from references by [[Vitruvius]]<nowiki/>and [[Hero of Alexandria]], but they acted as base for engineering works from [[Hero of Alexandria]] and [[Philo of Byzantium]].

During this first career, he invented a [[counterweight]]-adjustable [[mirror]]. Another of his inventions was the [[hydraulis]], a water organ that is considered the precursor of the modern [[pipe organ]] and the first keyboard instrument. He and his wife Thais were reputed to be highly-skilled players of the instrument. It is believed that he improved the hydraulics by forcing air though the pipes using the weight of water, instead of using falling lead weights. He improved the [[water clock]] or clepsydra (‘water thief’), which for more than 1,800 years was the most accurate clock ever constructed, until the Dutch physicist [[Christiaan Huygens]]’ invention of the [[pendulum clock]] in 1656. Ctesibius described one of the first [[Force pump|force pumps]] for producing a jet of water, or for lifting water from wells. Examples have been found at various Roman sites, such as at [[Silchester]] in Britain. The principle of the [[siphon]] has also been attributed to him. He is also believed to have invented an air-powered catapult with his knowledge of compressed air. His inventions are only known from references by [[Vitruvius]]and [[Hero of Alexandria]], but they acted as base for engineering works from [[Hero of Alexandria]] and [[Philo of Byzantium]].

[[File:Ctesibius’s_water_clock,_3rd_century_BC,_Alexandria_(reconstruction).jpg|thumb|Hydraulic clock of Ctesibius, reconstruction at the Technological Museum of [[Thessaloniki]]]]

[[File:Ctesibius’s_water_clock,_3rd_century_BC,_Alexandria_(reconstruction).jpg|thumb|Hydraulic clock of Ctesibius, reconstruction at the Technological Museum of [[Thessaloniki]]]]

3rd-century BC Greek inventor and mathematician

Ctesibius
Born	c. 300 BCE
Died	c. 222 BCE
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics

Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (Ancient Greek: Κτησίβιος; fl. 285–222 BCE) was an ethnically Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt.^[1] Very little is known of Ctesibius’ life, but his inventions were well known in his lifetime.^[2] He was likely the first head of the Museum of Alexandria. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (and even in a kind of cannon). This, in combination with his work On pneumatics on the elasticity of air, earned him the title of “father of pneumatics.” None of his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus. Ctesibius’ most commonly known invention today is a pipe organ (hydraulis), a predecessor of the modern church organ. He was married to a woman named Thais, who is not to be confused with Thaïs, the Greek hetaira who travelled with Alexander the Great on his military campaigns.

Ctesibius was the son of a barber, born c. 300 BCE, probably – but not certainly – in Alexandria.^[a][2][5] He began his career as a barber, following his father.^[2]

During this first career, he invented a counterweight-adjustable mirror. Another of his inventions was the hydraulis, a water organ that is considered the precursor of the modern pipe organ and the first keyboard instrument. He and his wife Thais were reputed to be highly-skilled players of the instrument. It is believed that he improved the hydraulics by forcing air though the pipes using the weight of water, instead of using falling lead weights. He improved the water clock or clepsydra (‘water thief’), which for more than 1,800 years was the most accurate clock ever constructed, until the Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens‘ invention of the pendulum clock in 1656. Ctesibius described one of the first force pumps for producing a jet of water, or for lifting water from wells. Examples have been found at various Roman sites, such as at Silchester in Britain. The principle of the siphon has also been attributed to him. He is also believed to have invented an air-powered catapult with his knowledge of compressed air. His inventions are only known from references by Vitruvius and Hero of Alexandria, but they acted as base for engineering works from Hero of Alexandria and Philo of Byzantium.

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Ctesibius was miserably poor. Laërtius details this by recounting the following concerning the philosopher Arcesilaus:

When he had gone to visit Ctesibius who was ill, seeing him in great distress from want, he secretly slipped his purse under his pillow; and when Ctesibius found it, “This,” said he, “is the amusement of Arcesilaus.”

Ctesibius’s work is chronicled by Vitruvius, Athenaeus, Pliny the Elder, and Philo of Byzantium who repeatedly mention him, adding that the first mechanicians such as Ctesibius had the advantage of being under kings who loved fame and supported the arts. Proclus (the commentator on Euclid) and Hero of Alexandria also mention him.