The geometrical treatises which have survived (though not interpolated)
in Greek are entitled respectively _Definitiones_, _Geometria_,
_Geodaesia_, _Stereometrica_ (i. and ii.), _Mensurae_, _Liber
Geoponicus_, to which must now be added the _Metrica_ recently
discovered by R. Schone in a MS. at Constantinople. These books, except
the _Definitiones_, mostly consist of directions for obtaining, from
given parts, the areas or volumes, and other parts, of plane or solid
figures. A remarkable feature is the bare statement of a number of very
close approximations to the square roots of numbers which are not
complete squares. Others occur in the _Metrica_ where also a method of
finding such approximate square, and even approximate cube, roots is
shown. Hero's expressions for the areas of regular polygons of from 5 to
12 sides in terms of the squares of the sides show interesting
approximations to the values of trigonometrical ratios. Akin to the
geometrical works is that _On the Dioptra_, a remarkable book on
land-surveying, so called from the instrument described in it, which was
used for the same purposes as the modern theodolite. It is in this book
that Hero proves the expression for the area of a triangle in terms of
its sides. The _Pneumatica_ in two books is also extant in Greek as is
also the _Automatopoietica_. In the former will be found such things as
siphons, "Hero's fountain," "penny-in-the-slot" machines, a fire-engine,
a water-organ, and arrangements employing the force of steam. Pappus
quotes from three books of _Mechanics_ and from a work called
_Barulcus_, both by Hero. The three books on _Mechanics_ survive in an
Arabic translation which, however, bears a title "On the lifting of
heavy objects." This corresponds exactly to _Barulcus_, and it is
probable that _Barulcus_ and _Mechanics_ were only alternative titles
for one and the same work. It is indeed not credible that Hero wrote
two separate treatises on the subject of the mechanical powers, which
are fully discussed in the _Mechanics_, ii., iii. The _Belopoiica_ (on
engines of war) is extant in Greek, and both this and the _Mechanics_
contain Hero's solution of the problem of the two mean proportionals.
Hero also wrote _Catoptrica_ (on reflecting surfaces), and it seems
certain that we possess this in a Latin work, probably translated from
the Greek by Wilhelm van Moerbeek, which was long thought to be a
fragment of Ptolemy's _Optics_, because it bore the title _Ptolemaei de
speculis_ in the MS. But the attribution to Ptolemy was shown to be
wrong as soon as it was made clear (especially by Martin) that another
translation by an Admiral Eugenius Siculus (12th century) of an optical
work from the Arabic was Ptolemy's _Optics_. Of other treatises by Hero
only fragments remain. One was four books on _Water Clocks_ ([Greek:
Peri hydrion horoskopeion]), of which Proclus (_Hypotyp. astron._, ed.
Halma) has preserved a fragment, and to which Pappus also refers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account