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Primary sourceDocument

Belopoiika (Paris, Suppl. graec. 607)

Hero of Alexandria

A manuscript copy of Hero's Belopoeica, a treatise on catapults, containing a design drawing of a smaller siege engine.

A manuscript copy of Hero's own text on siege engines, with his design drawing of a cannon-like device.

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Manuscript page with a colored diagram of a catapult-like siege engine in red and green ink, with Greek letter labels, above several lines of Greek handwritten text and a red seal.
Hero of Alexandria, Belopoiika, manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Suppl. graec. 607, fol. 47v.

About this source

What it is

This manuscript page preserves part of the Belopoeica, a text by Hero of Alexandria on building catapults and siege engines. It includes a colored diagram of a smaller cannon-like device with Greek letter labels, alongside handwritten Greek text. The manuscript is held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

Why it matters

This page is one of several surviving manuscript copies of Hero's text, showing how his technical writings were copied and preserved by later scribes across centuries. The detailed diagram demonstrates Hero's practical engineering knowledge applied to military technology, a key part of ancient Alexandrian science.

Look closer

  • Why might there be more than one surviving copy of this text, made in different places and times?
  • What do the colored diagram and labels tell us about how the text was meant to be used?
  • What does the care taken in copying this manuscript suggest about how valuable this knowledge was considered?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hero of Alexandria on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Belopoiika (design drawing of a siege engine)

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Title page of a 1589 Italian book, engraved in black and white with an ornate architectural border of columns, scrolls and a central medallion. Printed text reads Di Herone Alessandrino De gli automati, ouero Machine se moventi, libri due, tradotti dal greco da Bernardino Baldi, with a small shield reading In Venetia, appresso Girolamo Porro, 1589.Book

Secondary source

De gli automati, ouero Machine se mouenti

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