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of Archimedes was written by one Heracleides, but this biography has not survived, and such particulars as are known have to be collected from many various sources. According to Tzetzes he died at the age of 75, and, as he perished in the sack of Syracuse (B.C. 212), it follows that he was probably born about 287 B.C. He was the son of Pheidias the astronomer, and was on intimate terms with, if not related to, king Hieron and his