Anthemius of Tralles (Ancient Greek:Ἀνθέμιος ὁ Τραλλιανός,Medieval Greek:[anˈθemiosotraliaˈnos],Anthémios o Trallianós;c. 474 – 533 x 558)[1] was aByzantine Greek fromTralles[2] who worked as ageometer andarchitect inConstantinople, the capital of theByzantine Empire. WithIsidore of Miletus, he designed theHagia Sophia forJustinian I.
Anthemius was one of the five sons of Stephanus of Tralles, a physician. His brothers were Dioscorus, Alexander, Olympius, and Metrodorus. Dioscorus followed his father's profession in Tralles; Alexander did so inRome and became one of the most celebrated medical men of his time; Olympius became a notedlawyer; and Metrodorus worked as agrammarian in Constantinople.[3]
Anthemius was said to have annoyed his neighbor Zeno in two ways: first, by engineering a miniature earthquake by sending steam through leather tubes he had fixed among thejoists and flooring of Zeno's parlor while he was entertaining friends[4] and, second, by simulatingthunder andlightning and flashing intolerable light into Zeno's eyes from a slightly hollowed mirror.[3] In addition to his familiarity with steam, some dubious authorities credited Anthemius with a knowledge ofgunpowder or other explosive compound.[3]
Anthemius was a capablemathematician. In the course of his treatiseOn Burning Mirrors, he intended to facilitate the construction of surfaces to reflect light to a single point, he described the string construction of theellipse[1] and assumed a property of ellipses not found inApollonius of Perga'sConics: the equality of the angles subtended at a focus by two tangents drawn from a point. His work also includes the first practical use of thedirectrix: having given the focus and a double ordinate, he used the focus and directrix to obtain any number of points on aparabola.[3] This work was later known toArab mathematicians such asAlhazen.
Eutocius of Ascalon's commentary on Apollonius'sConics was dedicated to Anthemius.[1]
As an architect, Anthemius is best known for his work designing theHagia Sophia.[3] He was commissioned withIsidore of Miletus byJustinian I shortly after the earlier church on the site burned down in 532 but died early on in the project. He is also said to have repaired the flood defenses atDaras.[5]
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