Philo of Byzantium

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Philo of Byzantium
PHILIP RANCE
Philo of Byzantium (ca. 200 BCE), or Philo
Mechanicus, was a Greek writer on mechanics,
and civil and military engineering. Little is
known of his life and career: Philo mentions
lengthy visits to ALEXANDRIA and RHODES, and
implies that he was somewhat younger than
the celebrated inventor KTESIBIOS OF ALEXANDRIA
(ca. 270–230), whose discoveries in pneumatics
and ballistics he refined, although their per-
sonal acquaintance is uncertain (51.15–23,
67.43–68.2). Philo’s major work was a large
technological compendium entitled Mechanike
syntaxis, the first of its kind, which is mostly
lost. Surviving sections are addressed to
Ariston, an unidentified correspondent to
whom each volume was sent independently
in accordance with a previously outlined
program of inquiry (49.1–3, 79.1; Pneum. 1).
With some conjecture, its contents are conven-
tionally reconstructed as: I Eisagoge (introduc-
tion); II Mochlika (levers); III Limenopoiika
(harbor construction); IV Belopoiika (artillery
construction); V Pneumatika (pneumatic
principles and devices); VI Automatopoiika
(mechanical amusements); VII Paraskeuastika
(defensive preparations); VIII Poliorketika
(siegecraft); IX, possibly comprising or includ-
ing a study of cryptography (102.47–50), if
this was not a separate work. The surviving
Greek text comprises only IV, together with
substantial excerpts of VII and VIII (which
older scholarship considered a single book,
formerly numbered V). The Pneumatika is
preserved in Arabic translation, heavily inter-
polated by medieval scholars, and a partial
Latin translation of another, now lost Arabic
version.
The Belopoiika (Scho
¨ne 1893; Diels and
Schramm 1919; Marsden 1971) contains tech-
nical specifications for the construction
of artillery, principally torsion-powered cata-
pults. Philo incorporates empirical techniques
he learned through extensive consultation
of artificers in workshops at Rhodes and
Alexandria, some of whom had worked with
Ktesibios (50.37–40, 51.15–23, 67.43–68.2,
72.36–9, 77.12–78.34). He critiques recent
developments and proposes improvements
to both standard designs and famous inven-
tions (56.19–24, 72.39–45); his access to
lost writings by Ktesibios remains unclear.
The Pneumatika (Schmidt 1899; Carra de
Vaux 1902; Prager 1974), the earliest extant
treatise on this subject, contains a theoretical
introduction to the properties of air, water,
and vacuums based on experimental demon-
strations, followed by descriptions of practical
applications, mostly entertaining gadgets
and domestic appliances (Drachmann 1948:
41–74). Similarities in the Pneumatica of
Hero of Alexandria (ca. 10–70 CE) may
reflect Hero’s knowledge of Philo’s work
and/or their use of a common source, possibly
a lost pneumatic treatise(s) by Ktesibios.
Philo’s Paraskeuastika and Poliorketika
(Scho
¨ne 1893; Diels and Schramm 1920;
Garlan 1974; Lawrence 1979) constitute a
comprehensive guide to defending and
attacking a Hellenistic city. The Paraskeuastika,
the only treatise on fortification to have sur-
vived from Antiquity, concerns the design, lay-
out, and construction of walls, towers,
battlements, and outworks, as well as the
organization of manpower and provisions;
the Poliorketika considers engineering, equip-
ment, and tactics used by besieger and
besieged.
In the field of mathematics, Philo formulated
an alternative proof to the proposition of Euclid
1.8 (Procl. Comm.in Euclid. (ed. Friedlein
1873) 266.15–268.14), and also devised an
approximate solution to the problem of
doubling the cube using the so-called Philo
line (Coxeter and van de Craats 1993). A
short treatise on the seven wonders of the
world (Peri ton hepta theamaton) falsely
ascribed to Philo is the work of a Late Antique
rhetorician.
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 5266–5268.
©2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah21254
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SEE ALSO:Artillery; Catapults; Mechanics;
Pneumatics; Science, Greek; Sieges and siegecraft,
Classical and Hellenistic Greece.
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
Carra de Vaux, B. (1902) Le livre des appareils
pneumatiques et machines hydrauliques par Philon
de Byzance, e
´dite
´d’apre
`s les versions arabes
d’Oxford et de Constantinople et traduit en
franc¸ais. Paris.
Diels, H. and Schramm, E., eds. (1919) Philons
Belopoiika. (Viertes Buch der Mechanik.) Berlin.
(With German translation.)
Diels, H. and Schramm, E., eds. (1920) Exzerpte
aus Philons Mechanik B. VII und VIII
(vulgo fu
¨nftes Buch). Berlin. (With German
translation.)
Lawrence, A. W. (1979) Greek aims in fortification:
67–107. Oxford.
Marsden, E. W. (1971) Greek and Roman artillery:
technical treatises: 105–84. Oxford.
Prager, F. D. (1974) Philo of Byzantium,
Pneumatica: the first treatise on experimental
physics, western version and eastern version.
Wiesbaden.
Scho
¨ne, R., ed. (1893) Philonis Mechanicae
Syntaxis, libri quartus et quintus. Berlin.
Schmidt, W., ed. (1899) Heronis Alexandrini
opera I: 458–89. Leipzig. (With German
translation.)
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Coxeter, H. S. M. and van de Craats, J. (1993)
“Philon lines in non-Euclidean planes.” Journal
of Geometry 48.1–2: 26–55.
Drachmann, A. G. (1948) Ktesibios, Philon and
Heron. A study in ancient pneumatics.
Copenhagen.
Garlan, Y. (1973) “Cite
´s, arme
´es et strate
´gie a
`
l’e
´poque helle
´nistique d’apre
`s l’oeuvre de Philon
de Byzance.” Historia 22: 16–33.
Garlan, Y. (1974) Recherches de poliorce
´tique
grecque: 279–404. Athens.
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