Ctesibius

• a mechanic of Alexandria, distinguished for his inventions in hydraulics, Vitr. 9, 6 (al. 9), p. 280 Bip.—Hence,
• II Ctēsĭbĭcus, a, um, adj., of Ctesibius: machina, Vitr. 10, 12.

(Κτησίβιος).

1. A Greek historian, who probably lived at the time of the first Ptolemies, or at least after the time of Demosthenes, for we learn from Plutarch (Plut. Dem. 5), that Hennippus of Smyrna referred to him as his authority for some statement respecting Demosthenes. According to Apollodorus (apud Phlegon. de Longaev. 2), Ctesibius died during a walk at the age of 104, and according to Lucian (Macrob. 22), at the age of 124 years. Whether he was the author of a work, Περὶ Φιλοσοφίας, referred to by Plutarch (Vit. X Orat. p. 844c.) is uncertain.

2. A Cynic philosopher, a native of Chalcis and a friend of Menedemus. According to Athenaeus, who relates an anecdote about him, he lived in the reign of Antigonus, king of Macedonia. (Athen. 1.15, iv. p. 162.) [L.S]

(Κτησίβιος), celebrated for his mechanical inventions, was born at Alexandria, and lived probably about B. C. 250, in the reigns of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes, though Athenaeus (iv. p. 174) says, that he flourished in the time of the second Euergetes. His father was a barber, but his own taste led him to devote himself to mechanics. He is said to have invented a clepsydra or water-clock, a hydraulic organ (ὕδραυλις) and other machines, and to have been the first to discover the elastic force of air and apply it as a moving power. Vitruvius (lib. vii. praef.) mentions him as an author, but none of his works remain. He was the teacher, and has been supposed to have been the father, of Hero Alexandrinus, whose treatise called Βελοποιϊκά has also sometimes been attributed to him. (Vitr. 9.9, 10.12; Plin. Nat. 7.37; Athen. 4.174, xi. p. 497; Philo Byzant. (apud Vet. Math. pp. 56, 67, 72; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 591.) [W.F.D]

(Κτησίβιος). A native of Ascra and contemporary of Archimedes, who flourished during the reigns of Ptolemy II. and Ptolemy III., or between B.C. 260 and 240. He was the son of a barber, and for some time exercised at Alexandria the calling of his parent. His mechanical genius, however, soon caused him to emerge from obscurity, and he became known as the inventor of several very ingenious contrivances for raising water, etc. The invention of clepsydrae, or water clocks, is also ascribed to him. (Cf. Vitruvius, ix. 9.) He wrote a book on hydraulic machines, which is now lost. See Clepsydra; Ctesibica Machina; Horologium.