Archimedes
A famous geometrician of Syracuse who invented a machine of glass that represented the motion of the heavenly bodies. When Marcellus, the Roman consul, besieged Syracuse, Archimedes constructed machines which suddenly raised into the air the ships of the enemy, which then fell into the sea and were sunk. He also set fire to the ships with burning-glasses. When the enemy were in possession of the town, a soldier, not knowing who he was, killed him, B. C. 212.
Arctos (The Bear). Two constellations near the North Pole. - (1) The Great Bear (Ursa Major), also called the Wagon (plaustrum). The ancient Italian name of this constellation was Septem Triones, that is, the Seven Plowing Oxen, also Septentrio, and with the epithet Major to distinguish it from the Septentrio Minor, or Lesser Bear.- (2) The Lesser or Little Bear (Ursa Minor), likewise called the Wagon, and Cynosura (dog's tail) from the resemblance of the constellation to the upturned curl of a dog's tail.