A siege of two years (214-212) followed, famous for the various devices adopted by the noted mathematician ARCHIMEDES (Footnote: Archimedes was a great investigator in the science of mathematics.

He discovered the ratio of a sphere to its circumscribed cylinder.

One of his famous sayings was, "Give me where to stand, and I will move the world." He exerted his ingenuity in the invention of powerful machines for the defence of Syracuse.

Eight of his works on mathematics are in existence.
He was killed at the close of the siege by a Roman soldier, who would have spared his life had he not been too intent on a mathematical problem to comply with the summons to surrender.

On his tombstone, it is said, was engraved a cylinder enclosing a sphere.) to defeat the movements of the Romans.