Syracuse
Ancient Greek city on the south-east coast of Sicily, where Archimedes lived and died.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness | Carlo Rovelli | turning point | Archimedes dies in the Roman sack, and with him a scientific world. |
There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness — Carlo Rovelli (2020)
Source: There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness · Readwise highlight
Archimedes was slaughtered by the Romans during the sacking of Syracuse, the last proud remnant of Magna Grecia to fall under the Roman yoke
- Role: turning point
- In the book: In “Some Think, O King Hiero, That the Grains of Sand Cannot be Counted”, Rovelli sets Archimedes’ Sand Reckoner against Ecclesiasticus, which says the grains of sand cannot be counted. Archimedes’ death in the sack of Syracuse begins a millennium in which his calculations “languished in a state of incomprehensibility”. Rovelli adds an image from “near to Syracuse”: the theatre at Taormina, above the sea and Etna, which staged Sophocles and Euripides and was then adapted by the Romans for gladiatorial combat.
- Why it matters: Syracuse’s fall marks, for Rovelli, the “complete triumph” of resigned ignorance over Archimedes’ confidence that the world can be measured. The essay then turns the tables, point by point.
- Not pinned separately: the ancient theatre at Taormina (no standard-source coordinate found).