ARCHYTAS, iir-ki'tas (Gk. The son of Alnesagoras, or Ilestixus, of Tarentum, distinguished philosopher, mathematician, gem eral, and statesman. He lived in the first half of the Fourth Century B.C.. and was thus a con temporary of Plato, whose life he is said to have saved by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was seven times elected general of his city, though it was customary for the office to be held for one year only. His connection with Plato belongs to the time of the latter's visit to lower Italy. He was drowned on the Apulian coast, and is said to have been buried near Matinum, in Apulia. Archytas was a man marked for his morality, self-control. and gentleness. As a phi losopher, he belonged to the Pythagorean School. His services to the science of mathematics were many and important, and he passed as the founder of scientific mechanics. He was the first to distinguish harmonica) progression from arithmetical and geometrical progression; he also solved the problem of doubling the cube. (See
CruE.) Among his mechanical contrivances was a flying pigeon made of wood. He is said to have invented the pulley. As an astrono mer, he taught that the earth is a sphere rotat ing on its axis once in twenty-four hours, and that the heavenly bodies move about it. Ile fur ther made original contributions to the knowledge of musical tones. In a philosophical way he must have influenced Plato not a little, and per haps Aristotle. The mathematical fragments of Archytas have been carefully collected by Blass in 3161anges Graux (Paris, 1884). The other fragments which are attached to the name of Archytas, and which relate to ethics, logic, and physics, are probably for the most part not gem uine. They are to be found in Mullach, Philoso phoram Grwcoram Fragments, Vol. I. (Paris, I860-81) : also the two letters of Archytas, one to Dionysius and the other to Plato, and the work On the Ten Categories, are spurious.