Flourished Pêlousion (Tell el-Farama, Egypt), 230 BCE
Dôsitheus was a student of Konon ( Conon ) of Samos and a correspondent of Archimedes of Syracuse. He wrote and observed in Alexandria, and perhaps on the island of Kos, but nothing further is known of his life. The name, meaning “god-given,” is common, but all other prominent Ptolemaic bearers were Jewish, so it may translate as Nathaniel. Pêlousion, at the easternmost mouth of the Nile, was an important coastal border fortress and customs station of Ptolemaic Egypt. During Dôsitheos’s lifetime, Pêlousion was often the point of departure for Ptolemaic attacks on the neighboring Seleukid Kingdom (in the wars of 274–271, 260–253, 246–241, and 221–217 BCE).
After Konon died, Archimedes resorted to Dôsitheus as the addressee of his mature works – On the Quadrature of the Parabola, On the Sphere and Cylinder(two books, separately addressed), On Spirals, and On Conoids and Spheroids. In turn, Dôsitheus solicited proofs from Archimedes,...
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Keyser, P.T. (2014). Dôsitheus of Pêlousion. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_377
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