Kárpos of Antioch (10 BCE – 40 CE?)
“Ho me ̄khanikos,” worked in mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics. I, In Categ.,
mentions his attempt to square the circle using a curve of “double motion” (S In
Categ. 7, CAG 8 [1907] 192, = In Phys. 1.2, CAG 9 [1882] 60). P cites him for defining
angles as quantities, i.e., the distance between the enclosing lines or planes (In Eucl. pp.
125.25–126.7 Fr.), and for speculating that Venus is larger than the Earth (In Rem Pub. 2, p.
218 Kr.). Proklos (In. Eucl. pp. 241.18–244.1 Fr.) quotes from Kárpos’ Astrologike ̄ Pragmateia an
argument that proble ̄mata have priority over theorems, since proble ̄mata possess evident con-
structions, and the method of analysis always finds their solution, whereas no-one up to his
time had found a uniform way of dealing with theorems; moreover, he criticized G,
for saying a theorem is more perfect than a problem. (Given that P, Coll. 7.6, records
H’s claim to deal uniformly with theorems, Segonds argues for Kárpos’ priority.)
Kárpos’ Me ̄khanikos applied geometry to practical aims, citing A’ Sphere-making
(Pappos, Coll. 8.3 [p. 1026 Fr.]), and he is credited with a type of level similar to the alpharion
or diabe ̄te ̄s (T A, In Ptol. Alm. 1, p. 524 R.).
G. Sarton, History of Science (1959) 2.360, 362; DPA 2 (1994) 228–230, A. Segonds.
PTK and GLIM
Kassandros (ca 135 – 105 BCE)
Named by P L with A as the best astrologers of his time:
they did not practice predictive astrology (C, Div. 2.88). Probably distinct from the
historian Kassandros of Salamis (FHG 4.359), our Kassandros believed that the Great Year
occurred every 180,000 years (C 18.11).
RE 10.2 (1919) 2314 (#9), F. Jacoby.
GLIM
Ke ̄phisopho ̄n (of Athens?) (325 BCE – 120 CE)
S, Gyn. 3.38 (CMG 4, p. 118; CUF v. 3, p. 41), refers to Ke ̄phisopho ̄n’s remedy
for uterine mole (along with that of P); O, Ecl. Med. 53.5 (CMG 6.2.2,
p. 215) records his pitch-plaster (dro ̄pax) of bitumen, sulfur, and marsh-salt (D
5.119), and refers to his ointment, Ecl. Med. 59.3 (p. 224). C A repeats
So ̄ranos’ prescriptions of his remedies: Acute 2.153 (CML 6.1, p. 236), Chron. 2.34, 3.55
(pp. 564, 710). The name, like all names in Ke ̄phiso-, is almost solely Athenian, and
common there before the Roman period.
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PTK
Keras of Carthage (450 – 350 BCE?)
Improved the ram design of P T, by adding a rolling platform
with protective covering, and was the first to use the term “ram tortoise” (A M.
pp. 9–10 W.; V 10.13.2). Although the name is attested for an Olympic victor
(LGPN 3A.240: Argos, 300 BCE), the mechanist may be a legendary “pro ̄tos heure ̄te ̄s.”
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PTK
KÁRPOS OF ANTIOCH