A substantial miscellany of items relating to the ancient mathematician and technologist Archimedes of Syracuse (?287-212BC), compiled by Dr Chris Rorres, mathematics department at Drexel University [Philadelphia, US]. The site is illuminated throughout by primary extracts from the works of Polybius, Livy, Plutarch, Cicero, Vitruvius and other writers, discussing familiar episodes such as the siege of Syracuse -- the defence against which is traditionally held to have relied on Archimedes' mechanical ingenuity -- and Archimedes' subsequent death and burial. The site includes a summary timeline of Archimedes' life; a narrative account of the siege; some historical background material, including information on the ruling family of Syracuse; discussions of Archimedes' known or supposed mathematical concerns, including the "cattle problem" and the Archimedean solids; and numerous paintings, engravings and contemporary illustrations (some highly speculative) depicting Archimedes' claw, burning mirrors, screw and other legendary innovations, plus a number of "portraits" available at various resolutions. At times, the sheer breadth of the collection (including various images of ancient Syracusan coins, and details of the lunar crater bearing Archimedes' name) veers towards antiquarianism; but Dr Rorres is fairly scrupulous in marking out items as mythic, apocryphal, implausible or spurious.

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