A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HERON. HERON. 437
he' wrote commentaries on Deinarchus, Herodotus. irosKad, BeAoeror/cd, or (Eutoc. in Arch. de Sph. et
Thucydides, and Xenophon; a work entitled At Cylind.) BeAorolflKC,, on the manufacture of darts.
iv'AO4vYais 31Ka KIceptige'-vo'OvociAiwWv, in three Edited by Bernardino Baldi (Gr. Lat.) with notes,
books; an epitome of the history of Heracleides; and a life of Heron, Augsburg, 1616, 4to.; also
and a work on the ancient orators, entitled IIepl in the Veter. Mathemat. &c. above mentioned. 4.
cv'.'ApXaowv'Pr1rTpwv Kal -rTc, AJdywov oe's,icn- rIIpevua'tcda, or Spiritalia, the most celebrated of his
ad'v 7rpv dhAAxhAovs O-ywviL~'Usvoi. There are no works. Edited by Conmandine (Lat.) with notes,
data for determining when he lived. (Fabric. Urbino, 1575, 4to., Amsterdam, 1680, 4to., and
Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 239; Vossius, De Hist. Paris, 1683, 4t6. It is also (Gr. Lat.) in the
Graec. p. 452, ed. Westermann.) Veter. Mathemat. &c. above mentioned. It first
2. A grammarian, a native of Ephesus, quoted appeared, however, in an Italian translation by
frequently by Athenaeus (ii. p. 52 b, iii. p. 76 a, p. Bernardo Aleotti, Bologna, 1547, 4to., Ferrarai
111 c, &c.), and in the scholia on Apollonius Rho- 1589, 4to.; and there is also (Murhard) an Itadius (i. 769, iii. 2). lian translation, by Alessandro Giorgi, of Urbino,
Others of this name, not worth inserting, will be 1592, 4to., and by J. B. Porta, Naples, 1605, 4to.
found mentioned in Fabricius (1. c.). [C. P. M.] There is a German translation by Agathus Cario,
HERON ("Hpwv). 1. Of Alexandria, is called with an appendix by Solomon de Caus, Bamberg,
by Heron the younger (de Mach. Bell. c. 23, Fabr.) 1687, 4to., Frankfort, 1688, 4to. 5. Ilepl a0roa pupil of Ctesibius, and he lived in the reigns of $AaTowroCTcKc',~, de Automatorum Fabrica Libri duo.
the Ptolemies Philadelphus and Euergetes (B. c. Translated into Italian by B. Baldi. Venice, 1589,
284-221.) Of his life nothing is known; on his 1601, 1661, 4to.: also (Gr. Lat.) in the Veter.
mechanical inventions we have but some scanty Mathemat., &c. above mentioned. A fragment on
parts of his own writings, and some scattered no- dioptrics (Gr.) exists in manuscript, and two Latin
tices. The common pneumatic experiment, called fragments on military machines are given by Baldi
Hero'sfountain, in which a jet of water is main- at the end of the work on darts. The following
tained by condensed air, has given a certain popular lost works are mentioned: — Ta 7repi 6tpoiconreiro,
celebrity to his name. This has been increased by by Proclus, Pappus, and Heron himself; M7XavtKal
the discovery in his writings of a steam engine, that iaooywoya, by Eutocius, Pappus, and Heron himis, of an engine in which motion is produced by self; fIepl Jcerpcto;v,, by Eutocius; IEpl TpoXLtwslv,
steam, and which must always be a part of the by Pappus; and a work lTepi 3'vyiwo, is mentioned
history of that agent. This engine acts precisely by Pappus, and has been supposed to be by Heron.
on the principle of what is called Barker's Mill: (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 234; Murhard's
a boiler with arms having lateral orifices is capable Catalogue; Heilbronner, Hist. /lathes. - Univ.;
of revolving round a vertical axis; the steam issues Montucla, Hist. des Mathein. vol. i.)
from the lateral orifices, and the uncompensated 2. The teacher of Proclus, of whom nothing
pressure upon the parts opposite to the orifices more is known. Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. iv.
turns the boiler in the direction opposite to that of p. 239) takes this to be the Heron who is menthe issue of the steam. It is nearly the machine tioned by Eutocius as the commentator on the arithafterwards introduced by Avery, one of which, of metic of Nicomachus.
six horse power, is, or lately was, at work near 3. The younger, so called because we have not
Edinburgh.* Heron's engine is described in his even an adjective of place to distinguish him from
pneumatics presently mentioned; as also a double Heron of Alexandria, is supposed to have lived
forcing pump used for a fire engine, and various under Heraclius (A.D. 610-641). In his own
other applications of the elasticity of air and steam. work on Geodesy (a term used in the sense of
It is, however, but recently, that the remarkable practical geometry), he says that in his own time
claims of Heron to success in such investigations the stars had altered their longitudes by seven dehave received any marked notice. In the " Origine grees since the time of Ptolemy: from which the
des Decouvertes attribuies aux modernes," (3rd above date must have' been framed. But if he
edition, 1796), by M. Dutenst, who tries, with spoke, as is likely enough, from Ptolemy's value of
great learning, to make the best possible case for the precession of the equinoxes, without observing
the ancients, the name of Heron is not even men- the stars himself, he must have been about two
tioned. hundred years later. He was a Christian.
The remaining works, or rather fragments, of The writings attributed' to Heron the younger
Heron of Alexandria, are as follows:- are, 1. De Machinis bellicis, published (Lat.) by
1. Xe apoCa~AATpas staeacrevs ical ovtuleTpla, Barocius, Venice, 1572, 4to. There is one Greek
de Constructioe et Mensura Manubalistae. Firstpub- manuscript at Bologna. 2. Geodaesia, published
lished (Gr.) by Baldi at the end of the third work (Lat.) with the above by Barocius. Montucla
presently noted. Also (Gr. Lat.) by Thevenot, notices this as the first treatise in which the mode
Boivin, and Lahire, in the " Veterum mathemati- of finding the area of a triangle by means of its
cormm Athenaei, Apollodori, Philonis, Heronis et sides occurs. Savile, who had a manuscript of
aliorum Opera," Paris, 1693, fol. 2. Barulceus sive this treatise, rejects with scorn the idea of its havde Oneribus trahendisLibri tres, a treatise brought by ing been written by Heron; but we suspect that
J. Golius from the East in Arabic, not yet trans- he supposed it to be attributed to Heron of Alexlated or published (Ephemerid. Litter. Getting. ann. andria. 3. De Obsidione repellnda, o'irs Xpr'r~Z
1785, p. 625, &c. cited by Fabricius). 3. BeXo-. rTrs WroTAoppKovIlVS rdAheows a'rpa'lTaya 7rpos'ri)i
srohAopKcifar dvTdlo'aaeOual, published (Gr.) in the
* So says the translator of Arago's Eloge of Veter. Mathemat. Opera, &c. mentioned in the life
Watt, and' he adds that it is in pretty general use of Heron of Alexandria. 4. IIapeKgohal fK T rin Scotland. r'pa'7nmyuch'v 7rapa'rdewv, &c. This exists only
~ This work is very valuable, from its giving at in manuscript. 5.'EK TraV TO0 "Hpwvos 7repl rci,
length every passage to which reference is made. is rewUeTplas sal'XrepeuefETplas dvOUa7ws,, pubFF3