Anthemius of Tralles
Illustration — Fragment of a Greek work by Anthemius on Paradoxes of mechanics (Fragment d'un ouvrage grec d'Anthèmius sur des Paradoxes de mècanique), 1777 Anthemius of Tralles (Medieval Greek: anˈθemios o traliaˈnos, Anthémios o Trallianós; c. 474 – 533 x sometime between 558) was a Byzantine Greek from Tralles who worked as a geometer and architect in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
Also recorded as Anthemios of Tralles · Anthemius
Anthemius of Tralles
Antemio di Tralle · Available in the BEIC digital library and uploaded in partnership with BEIC Foundation. · Public domain
- Full name
- Ἀνθέμιος.
- Born
- 474. · Tralleis.
- Died
- 534. · Constantinople.
- Nationality
- Byzantine Empire.
- Occupation
- mathematician, physicist, architect, engineer and sculptor.
- Known for
- Hagia Sophia.
- Languages
- Ancient Greek.
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Fragment of a Greek work by Anthemius on Paradoxes of mechanics (Fragment d'un ouvrage grec d'Anthèmius sur des Paradoxes de mècanique), 1777 Anthemius of Tralles (Medieval Greek: anˈθemios o traliaˈnos, Anthémios o Trallianós; c. 474 – 533 x sometime between 558) was a Byzantine Greek from Tralles who worked as a geometer and architect in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
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wikidata · Q298226 · wikipedia · Anthemius of Tralles
In this article
Life
Life
Anthemius was one of the five sons of Stephanus of Tralles, a physician. His brothers were Dioscorus, Alexander, Olympius, and Metrodorus. Dioscorus followed his father's profession in Tralles; Alexander did so in Rome and became one of the most celebrated medical men of his time; Olympius became a noted lawyer; and Metrodorus worked as a grammarian in Constantinople. Anthemius was said to have annoyed his neighbor Zeno in two ways: first, by engineering a miniature earthquake by sending steam through leather tubes he had fixed among the joists and flooring of Zeno's parlor while he was entertaining friends and, second, by simulating thunder and lightning and flashing intolerable light into Zeno's eyes from a slightly hollowed mirror. In addition to his familiarity with steam, some dubious authorities credited Anthemius with a knowledge of gunpowder or other explosive compound.
Mathematics
Mathematics
Anthemius was a capable mathematician. In the course of his treatise On Burning Mirrors, he intended to facilitate the construction of surfaces to reflect light to a single point, he described the string construction of the ellipse and assumed a property of ellipses not found in Apollonius of Perga's Conics: the equality of the angles subtended at a focus by two tangents drawn from a point. His work also includes the first practical use of the directrix: having given the focus and a double ordinate, he used the focus and directrix to obtain any number of points on a parabola. This work was later known to Arab mathematicians such as Alhazen. Eutocius of Ascalon's commentary on Apollonius's Conics was dedicated to Anthemius.
Architecture
Architecture
• Illustration — Exterior of the Hagia Sophia, 2013 As an architect, Anthemius is best known for his work designing the Hagia Sophia. He was commissioned with Isidore of Miletus by Justinian I shortly after the earlier church on the site burned down in 532 but died early on in the project. He is also said to have repaired the flood defenses at Daras.
Identity
Identity
Anthemius of Tralles is recorded as mathematician, physicist, architect, engineer and sculptor.
Santa Sofía. Vista desde los Jardines del Sureste.
Jl FilpoC
Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, Sultan Ahmet, Ayasofya Meydanı No:1, 34122 Fatih/Istanbul, Turkey Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) is an iconic and culturally significant mosque in Istanbul, Turkiye. Built as a church in 7th century, it became a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, then a museum, and is now a mosque again(since 2020). With a gargantuan gargantuan dome size, it is a masterpie
Ank Kumar
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 474–1777
The full dated record · 3 entries
474
Anthemius of Tralles born at Tralleis.
534
Anthemius of Tralles died at Constantinople.
1777
Fragment d'un ouvrage grec d'Anthémius Sur des paradoxes de mécanique, avec une tr. fr. & des notes, par m. Dupuy (1777) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
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Places
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Tralleis.
Birth place
Constantinople.
Death place
Editions of On Burning-Glasses
* * *
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Heath, 1911, p=98 : "ANTHEMIUS, Greek mathematician and architect, who produced, under the patronage of Justinian (A.D. 532), the original and daring plans for the church of St Sophia in Constantinople, ... He was one of five brothers—the sons of Stephanus, a physician of Tralles—who were all more or less eminent in their respective departments. ..."
- 2.Agathias. The Histories. Walter de Gruyter. 2 May 2011. 978-3-11-082694-4.
- 3.Boyer, Carl Benjamin. A History of Mathematics. John Wiley & Sons. 193. 1991. 0-471-54397-7.
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q298226: Anthemius of TrallesWikimedia Foundation
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Anthemius of Tralles was recorded at birth as Ἀνθέμιος. The authorities additionally record the headings Anthemios of Tralles and Anthemius. His recorded language was Ancient Greek. He was the child of Stephanus of Tralles.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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