Catherine Osborne

Archimedes on the dimensions of the cosmos

In the fourth book of The Refutation of All Heresies, the early Christian writer Hippolytus of Rome (died A.D. 235) reports on some theories of mathematical astronomy ascribed to Aristarchus, Apollonius, Archimedes, and perhaps one other whose name is lost. The most extensive account concerns a theory of the distances of the heavenly bodies ascribed to Archimedes, but the corrupt state of the numerals in the sole surviving manuscript means that the material is difficult to handle.1 Here I offer a reconstruction of the data, followed by an examination of the rationale behind the numbers and of the question of their possible association with Archimedes.

BOUNDARIES IN NATURE: EATING WITH ANIMALS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.

‘On the day that Adam went out of the garden he offered frankincense, galbanum and stacte and spices, as a food offering of soothing odour; and so he did every day in the morning, at sunrise from the day he covered his shame. And on that day the mouths of all the wild animals and the cattle and the birds, and of everything that walks or moves, were shut, so that they could no longer speak (for up till then they had all spoken with one another in a common tongue). And he sent out of the garden of Eden all creatures that were in it; and they were scattered to the places naturally suited to them, according to their kinds and species. And Adam alone, as distinct from all the wild animals and the cattle, did he cause to cover his shame.’ Jubilees 3.27–30