DISCOVERIES & INVENTIONS · 212 BC · SYRACUSE
The circles are not disturbed
The autumn of 212 BC, the sack of Syracuse. The Roman general Marcellus has ordered that the geometer Archimedes be taken alive, and a soldier has found him bent over circles drawn in the sand. In our timeline the soldier killed him anyway. This is the timeline where the order is obeyed and the circles are left undisturbed.
You are reading the timeline that almost was · notes marked THE RECORD are real history
212 BC · THE FALL
For two years the Roman fleet of Marcus Claudius Marcellus could not take Syracuse. One old man held it. Archimedes, past seventy, had armed the walls for King Hiero. His catapults out-ranged the Roman ships. His iron claws seized their prows and shook the sailors into the sea. When the city fell at last, in the autumn of 212 BC, treachery opened a gate during a festival. No machine had failed. Marcellus had given one order for the sack: the geometer was to be taken alive. A soldier found him bent over circles drawn in the sand.
In the timeline recorded here, the soldier lowers his sword. Archimedes has asked him to wait, saying a proof is almost finished. The soldier waits. The circles are not disturbed.
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