[HM] Archimedes' Box (FWD)
Antreas P. Hatzipolakis (xpolakis@otenet.gr)
Mon, 26 Apr 1999 21:19:29 +0300 (EET DST)
>Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 12:41:53 +0500
>From: James Butrica <jbutrica@morgan.ucs.mun.ca>
>To: classics@u.washington.edu
>Subject: loculus ille Archimedius
>
>I recently came across a reference in the metrical writer Caesius Bassus to
>a child's educational toy (?) apparently called "Archimedes' box":
>
>"nam si loculus ille Archimedius, <qui> quattuordecim eboreas lamellas,
>quarum varii anguli sunt, in quadratam formam inclusas habet, componentibus
>nobis aliter atque aliter modo galeam, modo sicam, alias columnam, alias
>navem figurat et innumerabiles efficit species, solebatque nobis pueris hic
>loculus ad confirmandam memoriam prodesse plurimum, quanto maiorem poetst
>nobis adferre voluptatem quantoque pleniorem utilitatem carmina inter manus
>habentibus metrorum varia tractatio, cum subinde apud poetas ea quae
>fallunt imperitos metra inserta numeris et intermixta carminibus hac arte
>deprehendemus?"
>
>Apparently the box contains 14 plates (not always of ivory, I'm sure) of
>differing shape (defined by the "varii anguli") which fold up into a square
>inside the box (to which they are attached by hinges?) and which can be
>opened out selectively and combined to depict (in 2 dimensions, I'm
>assuming) a helmet, a dagger, a column, a ship and "countless" other shapes.
>Questions: Am I understanding the basic nature of this object correctly,
>and does anyone know of other references to it: or even depictions? And are
>there modern toys that function similarly?
>
>James Lawrence Peter Butrica
>Department of Classics
>Memorial University
>St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7
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