Ad Astra - Scipio and Hannibal - Vol. 8 Ch. 49 - The Genius Mathematician of Syracuse

[MangaDex]

 

[tppcrpg]

Oh the author actually used the sun laser.

 

[Nogoodnms]

That depiction of Archimedes felt very... true to life.

 

[laiseran]

This manga is so interesting

 

[Zanzanzan]

Don't disturb my circles ; - ;

 

[HughMann]

Those are some very nice geometric figures Archimedes is drawing on the ground. Would be a real shame if someone... disturbed them.

 

[boldmonkey]

Iwaaki wrote a story about this siege, too: https://mangadex.org/title/5694/heureka
Oh, and spoiler warning, since Iwaaki's story covers the whole siege.

 

[couchpotato]

The mangaka has simply outdone himself with the artwork in this chapter! The finesse and level of detail in the sea battle scene -- the "establishing shot" of Syracuse, the attacking ships fitted out for siege, the "claws", the action -- are at a new high-water mark. (I'm assuming he has assistants as well.)
Ol' Archimedes is very well drawn too.

Like some people, I had heard of the

Spoiler

concave mirror trick,

but not of the "claws". All this would make for a crazy good (if CGI-heavy) Hollywood battle scene.

 

[luminary]

No wonder he joined Velber.

 

[kurosa]

Ohhhh!!!!! Archimedes my boi!!!! I knew you will appear due to Marcellus xD

@couchpotato

Like some people, I had heard of the concave mirror trick, but not of the "claws"

Seems like you need more mythbusters in your life, good sir.

Spoiler

 

[DemonHide]

It's doubtful whether the mirrors were ever all that effective, especially considering the effort required to produce, use, and mantain them in combat. The cranes were a ridiculous concept, though proper tactical excecution made them work well enough; mainly the support of a substantially heavy wall defense that on its own would be difficult to surmount.

Where Archimedes of Syracuse is concerned, the "law" is far superior to the "claw" - Archimedes' Principle, buoyancy, was vital in improving ship design and a host of other extremely useful things thru the modern age.

 

[Markgraf]

While the actions of the claws & the mirrors are attested in the historical sources, I suspect that their effectiveness was exaggerated to explain the difficulties & length of time it took the Romans to capture Syracuse. Pro-Roman sources used them as an excuse while pro-Carthaginian (or maybe more accurately, anti-Roman) sources tried to show uncharacteristic flaws in the normally ruthless efficiency of Roman siege operations.

 

[banas002]

Time for my boy Archimedes

 

[norctune]

@boldmonkey
Iwaaki's other series Historie is also being translated by Hox who if you noticed, is the guy currently doing translations for this series as well.

 

[couchpotato]

@kurosa
Ha ha! I haven't seen that episode, so I can't comment (yet), but is Jamie doing that test at twilight? Or is it non-solar powered? Or is this a case of deliberate camera underexposure? I should watch more MythBusters, it seems.

 

[kurosa]

@couchpotato

Solar powered, night joke IIRC.

 

[couchpotato]

@kurosa

LOL Reminds me of that old Cold War joke: After the American moon landing, the Soviet Premier told his cosmonauts that they would land on the Sun. Faced with their protestations, he retorted that they would go at night!