ARC 
temple, which Ms had in the fame veneration with them 
as the temple of Mecca among the Mahometans. Zo- 
roaftes firft fettled it at Balch ; but, after the Mahometans 
had over-run Perfia, in the 7th century, the archimagus 
was forced to remove from thence into Kerman, a province 
of Perfia, lying on the fouthern ocean, where it hath con¬ 
tinued to this day. Darius Hytlafpes took upon himfelf 
the dignity of archimagus : for, Porphyry tells 11s, he or¬ 
dered 'hefore his death, that, among the other titles, it 
fliould be engraven on his monument, that he had been 
viajler of the magi ; which plainly implies, that he had borne 
this office among them, for none but the archimagus was 
mafter of the wdtole feet. From hence it feems to have 
proceeded, that the kings of Perfia were ever after looked 
on to be of the facerdotal tribe, and were always initiated 
into the facrcd order of the magi before they took on them 
the crown, a«d were inaugurated into the kingdom. 
ARCHlM AN'DRITE,/. was a name given by the 
ancient Chriftians to what we now call an abbot. Father 
Simon obferves, that the word mandrite is Syriac, and fig- 
nifies a folitary monk. 
ARCHIME'DES, Gr. i.e, the prince of 
counfel,] was born at Syracufe, in Sicily, according to 
Torelli, in the fecond year of the 123d olympiad, or the 
466th year from the building of Rome, which correfponds 
to the 286th year before Chrift : but Rivaltus, who has 
taken conliderable pains in affigning the true era of his 
birth, dates it in the fecond year of the 122d olympiad, 
or the 463d year from the building of Rome, anfwering 
to the 289th year before Chrift. If we may rely on the 
authority of Tzetzes, Archimedes lived feventy-five years. 
Plutarch informs us, that he was nearly related, by his fa¬ 
ther, to Hiero king of Syracufe ; but his mother was of 
obfcure origin ; w hich circumftance may probably account 
for the degrading terms “ humilem homunculmn ” which Ci¬ 
cero applies to him in the fifth book of his Tufculan quef- 
tions. Archimedes devoted himfelf to the ftudy of geo¬ 
metry in his youth ; and in his manner years he travelled 
into Egypt, whither the Greeks generally reforted in the 
purfuit of fcience. After an abfence of feveral years, 
which he fpent in the fociety of Conon, and other eminent 
men, and during which time he gave very promifing indi¬ 
cations of his future fame, he returned to his own coun¬ 
try ; and there he probably availed himfelf of the leifure 
which he enjoyed in compoling thofe books which are now 
extant. The ardour and intenfenefs of his application to 
mathematical fcience, rendered him both the honour of 
his own age, and the admiration of pofterity. He was in¬ 
deed the prince of the ancient mathematicians, being to 
them what Newton is to the moderns, to whom in his ge¬ 
nius and character he bears a very near refemblance. He 
was frequently loft in a kind of reverie, fo as to appear 
hardly fenfible ; he would ftudy for days and nights toge¬ 
ther, neglefting his food; and Plutarch tells us that he 
ufed to be carried to the baths by force. Many particu¬ 
lars pf his life, and works, mathematical and mechanical, 
are recorded by feveral of the ancients, as Polybius, Livy, 
Plutarch, Pappus, &c. He was equally (killed in all the 
fciences, aftronomy, geometry, mechanics, hydroftatics, 
optics, &c. in all of which he excelled, and made many 
and great inventions. 
Archimedes, it is faid, made a fphere of glafs, of a mod 
furprifing contrivance and workmanfhip, exhibiting the 
motions of the heavenly bodies in a very pleating manner. 
Claudian has an epigram upon this invention, which has 
been thus tranflated : 
When in a glafs’s narrow fpace confin’d, 
Jove faw the fabric of th’ almighty mind. 
He fmil’d, and faid, Can mortals’ art alone 
Our heavenly labours mimic with their own ? 
The Syracufan’s brittle work contains 
Th’ eternal law that through all nature reigns. 
Fram’d by his art, fee liars unnumber’d burn. 
And in their courfes rolling orbs return : 
Vol. II. No. 57. 
ARC 61 
His fun through various figns deferibes the year ; 
And every month his mimic moons appear. 
Our rival’s laws his little planets bind, 
And rule their motions with a human mind. 
Salmoneus could our thunder imitate, 
But Archimedes can a world create. 
Many wonderful (lories are told of his difeoveries, and 
of his very powerful and curious machines, &c. Hiero 
once admiring them, Archimedes replied, “ Thefe effedfs 
are nothing. Give me,” faid he, “ but fome other place 
to fix a machine upon, and I (hall move the earth.” He 
fell upon a curious device for difeovering the deceit which 
had been pradlifed by a workman, employed by king Hiero 
to make a golden crown. Hiero, having a mind to make 
an offering to the gods of a golden crown, agreed for one 
of great value, and weighed out the gold to the artificer. 
After fome time, he brought the crown home, of the full 
weight; but it was fufpecled that a part pf the gold had 
been (lolen, and the like weight of filver fubftituted in 
its (lead. Pliero, being angry at this fmpofition, defired 
Archimedes to take it into confideration, how fuch a fraud 
might be certainly difeovered. While engaged in the fo- 
lution of this difficulty, he happened to go into the bath ; 
where obferving that a quantity of water overflowed, equal 
to the bulk of his body, it prefentiy occurred to him, that 
Hiero’s queftion might be anfwered by a like method: 
upon which he ran homeward, crying out E vgwool tv^y.a.\ 
I have found it! I have found it! He then made two 
rnalfes, each of the fame weight as the crown, one of gold, 
and the other of filver : this done, he filled a veffel to the 
brim with water, and put the filver mafs into it, upon 
which a quantity of water overflowed equal to the bulk of 
the mafs ; then, taking the mafs of filver out, he filled 
up the velfel again, meafuring the w'ater exactly which he 
put in; this (hewed him what meafure of water anfwered 
to a certain quantity of filver. Then he tried the gold in 
like manner, and found that it caufed a lefs quantity of 
water to overflow, the gold being lefs in bulk than the 
filver, though of the fame weight, tie then filled the 
velfel a third time, and, putting in the crown itfelf, he 
found that it caufed more water to overflow than the gold¬ 
en mafs of the fame weight, but lefs than the filver one ; 
fo that, finding its bulk between the two mafte-s of gold 
and filver, and that in certain known proportions, he hence 
computed the real quantities of gold and filver in the 
crown, and thus rrianifeftly difeovered the fraud. 
Archimedes alfo contrived many machines for ufeful 
and beneficial purpofes : among thefe, engines for launch¬ 
ing large (hips; ferew pumps, for exhaufting the water 
out of (hips, marfhes, or overflowed lands, drc. which they 
would do from any depth. But lie became moll; famous 
by his curious contrivances, by which the city of Syracufe 
was fo long defended, when befieged by the Roman conful 
Marcellus ; (flowering upon the enemy fometimes long 
darts, and Hones of vail weight, and in great quantities ; 
at other times lifting their (flips up into the air, that had 
come near the walls, and dafhing them to pieces by letting 
them fall down again ; nor could they find their fafety in 
removing out of the reach of his cranes and levers, for 
there he contrived to fet them on fire'with the rays of the 
fun reflected from burning-glalfes. However, notwith- 
ftanding all his art, Syracufe was at length taken bv florin, 
and Archimedes was killed by a foldier. Plutarch fays, 
Archimedes was at that time in his mufeum; and his mind, 
as well as his eyes, fo fixed and intent upon fome geome¬ 
trical figures, that he neither heard the noife and hurry of 
the Romans, nor perceived the city to be taken. In this 
depth of ftudy and contemplation, a foldier came fuddenly 
upon him, and commanded him to follow him to Mar¬ 
cellus ; which he refufing to do, till he had finiflied his 
problem, the foldier, in a rage, drew his (word, and ran 
him through. Livy fays, he was (lain by a foldier, not 
knowing who he was, while he was drawing fchemes in 
the duff : that Marcellus was grieved at his death, and 
R took 
