Ostomachion

{{Short description|Treatise on geometry attributed to Archimedes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{original research|section|date=October 2013}}

File:Ostomachion.svg{{Citation needed|reason=Is this true? There's no mention of this at Mathworld, for example. What is the source for saying the puzzle as described in the Archimedes Palimpsest formed a 2x1 rectangle?|date=November 2022}})]]

File:Stomachion.JPG

File:OstomachionFigures.jpg

In ancient Greek geometry, the Ostomachion, also known as {{lang|la|loculus Archimedius}} ({{ety|la||Archimedes' box}}) or syntomachion, is a mathematical treatise attributed to Archimedes. This work has survived fragmentarily in an Arabic version and a copy, the Archimedes Palimpsest, of the original ancient Greek text made in Byzantine times.Darling, David (2004). The universal book of mathematics: from Abracadabra to Zeno's paradoxes. John Wiley and Sons, p. 188. {{isbn|0-471-27047-4}}

The word Ostomachion ({{lang|grc|Ὀστομάχιον}})[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Do%29stoma%2Fxion ὀστομάχιον],

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library comes {{ety|el|ὀστέον (osteon)|bone||μάχη (mache)|fight, battle, combat}}.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Do%29ste%2Fon ὀστέον], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dma%2Fxh μάχη], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library The manuscripts refer to the word as "Stomachion", an apparent corruption of the original Greek. Ausonius gives us the correct name "Ostomachion" ({{lang|la|quod Graeci ostomachion vocavere}}, "which the Greeks called ostomachion").

The Ostomachion which he describes was a puzzle similar to tangrams and was played perhaps by several persons with pieces made of bone.Ausonii Cento nuptialis in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, auctores antiquissimi, vol. 5, part 2: D. Magni Ausonii opuscola, Berolini apud Weidmannos, 1883, [http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000793_00205.html?sortIndex=010%3A010%3A0005%3A010%3A02%3A00&zoom=0.75 pagg. 140-41] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923223844/http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000793_00205.html?sortIndex=010%3A010%3A0005%3A010%3A02%3A00&zoom=0.75 |date=2015-09-23 }}. It is not known which is older, Archimedes' geometrical investigation of the figure, or the game. Victorinus,Ars grammatica, III, 1 in Grammatici latini, Lipsiae in aedibus R. G. Teubneri, 1857, vol. 6, part 1, [https://archive.org/stream/p1grammaticilatini06keil#page/100/mode/2up pagg. 100-01]. BassusDe metris, 9 in Grammatici latini cit., [https://archive.org/stream/p1grammaticilatini06keil#page/270/mode/2up pagg. 271-72], EnnodiusCarmen CCCXL (2, 133) in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, auctores antiquissimi, vol. 7, Magni Felicis Ennodi opera, Berolini apud Weidmannos, 1885, [http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000796_00316.html?sortIndex=010%3A010%3A0007%3A010%3A00%3A00&contextSort=sortKey&contextType=scan&contextOrder=descending&context=ostomachio pag. 249] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306033650/http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000796_00316.html?sortIndex=010:010:0007:010:00:00&contextSort=sortKey&contextType=scan&contextOrder=descending&context=ostomachio |date=2016-03-06 }} and LucretiusDe rerum natura, II, 776-787 cited in {{cite journal |first1=Reviel |last1=Netz |author1-link=Reviel Netz |first2=Fabio |last2=Acerbi |first3=Nigel |last3=Wilson |year=2004 |title=Towards a reconstruction of Archimedes' Stomachion |journal=Sciamvs |volume=5 |pages=67–99 |url=http://turing.une.edu.au/~ernie/Stomachion/NAW2004SCIAMVS.pdf |access-date=3 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004235053/http://turing.une.edu.au/~ernie/Stomachion/NAW2004SCIAMVS.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead }} have also discussed the game.