, is the name of two celebrated mathematicians of antiquity, who
, is the name of two celebrated mathematicians of
antiquity, who are usually distinguished by the epithets,
Hero the elder, and Hero the younger. The first was a
native of Alexandria, and the disciple of Ctesias, who
flourished in the reigns of Ptolemy Philadelphia and
Euergetes I. He was distinguished by his great skill in
mechanics, and particularly in the construction of machinery; as a moralist he was inclined to the tenets of Epicurus. He was author of a treatise “De Constructione et
Mensura Manubalistoe,
” of which a fragment was published
in Greek by Bernardino Baldi “Pe Telis conficiendis
jaculandisque Liber,
” published with notes by Baldi
“Spiralia,
” published in De Automatorum Fabrica.
” These are all to be
found in the Louvre edition of the “Ancient Mathematicians.
” The younger Hero is supposed to have flourished
under the reign of the emperor Heraclius. He was author
of “De Machinis Bellicis Geodcesia;
” “Liber de Obsidione repellenda et toleranda
” and <c De Vocabulis
Geonaetricis et Stereometricis."