A Bearded Man in a Bathtub

Abstract

The true depth of the Greek contributions to human progress is under-communicated. Classical Greek philosophers and artists are highly praised more or less by convention. Still, there is an underlying sentiment that it was all very good for its time, but nothing compared with modern stuff, of course. Aristotle, did he not say a lot of silly things, retarding science until the Renaissance? Pythagoras, was he not that hippie with quaint ideas about some polyhedron or other? And Archimedes? His main claim to fame is that he discovered that he floated in the bathtub, so he jumped up and shouted Eureka. All well and good, but surely not quite Einstein.