Mathematician:Archimedes of Syracuse/Writings/Historical Note

Historical Note on the Writings of
, and  all reference works of  which no longer exist.

It is therefore clear that such works were still in existence in Alexandria as late as the $3$rd or $4$th century CE.

wrote commentaries of On Plane Equilibriums, and.

However, he makes no mention of or, so it is supposed he did not have access to them.

revised the commentaries of on  and.

It also appears that also translated, updated and added interpretations for ease of comprehension.

But at that time there appears to be no collected edition of ' works.

gathered many of ' works during his restoration of the library of the University of Constantinople in the $9$th Century.

This passed:
 * $12$th century: to the Norman court at Palermo, thence to House of Hohenstaufen
 * $1266$: to the Pope by Charles of Anjou after the Battle of Benevento
 * $1269$ to $1311$: in the Papal Library
 * Some time after $1368$: passed into private hands
 * $1491$: Belonged to, who translated part of it into his (posthumous) $1501$ work
 * $1500$: Bought by
 * $1530$: Passed to his nephew
 * $1544$ to $1564$: vanished without trace

In $1529$ translated the greater part of ' works into Latin.

The translation was hasty and occasionally misunderstood, but it was an attempt at a word-for-word translation and not an interpretation and commentary.

Included in these were On Floating Bodies, On Plane Equilibriums and.

Several other translations can also be traced down through the ages.

Much of the later task of collating the various editions fell to.

Most importantly, in $1906$ he discovered a hitherto unknown palimpsest containing, practically intact.