Eutocius of Ascalon (/juːˈtoʊʃəs/;Greek:Εὐτόκιος ὁ Ἀσκαλωνίτης;c. 480s –c. 520s) was a Greek mathematician who wrote commentaries on severalArchimedean treatises and on theApollonianConics.
Little is known about the life of Eutocius. He was born inAscalon, then inPalestina Prima and lived during the reign ofJustinian. Eutocius probably became the head of theAlexandrian school followingAmmonius, and he was succeeded in this position byOlympiodorus, possibly as early as 525.[1] From his testimony, it seems he traveled to other cultural centers of his time to find missing manuscripts.
Eutocius wrote commentaries onApollonius and onArchimedes. The surviving commentaries are:
Historians owe much of their knowledge of Archimedes' solution of a cubic by means of intersecting conics, alluded to inOn the Sphere and Cylinder, to Eutocius and his commentaries. Eutocius dedicated his commentary on Apollonius'Conics toAnthemius of Tralles, also a mathematician and the architect of theHagia Sophia inConstantinople.[5]
