1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Philo of Byzantium

PHILO OF BYZANTIUM, Greek writer on mechanics, flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century B.C. (according to some, a century earlier). He was the author of a large work Μηχανικὴ σύνταξις), of which the fourth and (in epitome) fifth books are extant, treating of missiles, the construction of fortresses, provisioning, attack and defence (ed. R. Schone, 1893, with German translation in H. Köchly’s Griechische Kriegsschriftsteller, vol. i. 1853; E. A. Rochas d’Aiglun, Poliorcétique des Grecs, 1872). Another portion of the work, on pneumatic engines, has been preserved in the form of a Latin translation (De ingeniis spiritualibus) made from an Arabic version (ed. W Schmidt, with German translation, in the works of Heron of Alexandria, vol. i, in “Teubner Series,” 1899; with French translation by Rochas, La Science des philosophers . . . dans l’antiquité, 1882).

A little treatise On the Seven Wonders of the World, wrongly attributed to Philo, probably belongs to the 6th century A.D. It is printed in R. Hercher’s Aelian (1858).