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Who killed Archimedes during the Roman sack of Syracuse in 212 BC?
The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus had ordered that Archimedes — the famous engineer who had defended Syracuse with siege machines for two years — be spared. A junior Roman soldier found the 75-year-old man drawing diagrams in the sand. Archimedes told him not to disturb his circles. The soldier killed him. Marcellus was reportedly furious and ordered Archimedes given an honourable burial.
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The Soldier Who Killed Archimedes After two years of siege, the Romans broke into Syracuse. A junior soldier found a seventy-five-year-old man drawing in the sand and made the worst mistake of his career.
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