The Sand Reckoner

A Drama in Eight Scenes

Tony Rothman

1988

Author's Note

Although the works of Archimedes will survive as long as the earth endures, his life is erased. We know he died in 212 B.C. at about the age of seventy-five, from which we infer that he was born circa 287 B.C. According to Plutarch, writing in the first century A.D., Archimedes was related to King Hieron of Syracuse and was largely responsible for the city's defenses. Virtually nothing else is known. I have given him a wife, though there is no historical record of either wife or children.

Eratosthenes, the chief Librarian of Alexandria, was a friend of Archimedes and regarded by him as an equal. I have put Eratosthenes in Syracuse at the time of the play, but this is almost certainly counterfactual.

The remaining history is compressed in space and time for dramatic purposes but otherwise accurate at the sparse level of Plutarch, Tzetzes, the Oxford Classical Dictionary and various accounts for the general reader. Specialists will undoubtedly find many errors. (Yes, I am aware that the Greeks did not use the zero.) The title Sand Reckoner comes from one of Archimedes' own works in which he estimates the number of sand grains needed to fill the “universe.” As I use it the term also connotes one who reckons in the sand. Any resemblence of my characters to their historical counterparts is purely coincidental, but then again, we'll never know.

Cast

Archimedes--The greatest mathematician of antiquity and generally considered, along with Newton and Gauss, as one of the three greatest of all time. Over seventy at the time of this play.

Hieron II--Tyrant of Syracuse. Almost ninety.

Hieronymous--His grandson. A teenager. (This role may be played by a woman.)

Eratosthenes--Also a mathematician. Chief Librarian of the Great Library at Alexandria, he is sometimes called "Beta," meaning "all rounder" or the best in each subject after the leading specialist. About ten years younger than Archimedes.

Galatea--Wife of Archimedes.

Chorus of Citizens

Various guards, messengers, envoys, etcetera.