Almost nothing is known about Archimedes’ family other than that his father, Phidias, was an astronomer. The Greek historian Plutarch wrote that Archimedes was related to Heiron II, the king of Syracuse. As a young man, Archimedes may have studied in Alexandria with the mathematicians who came after Euclid. It is very likely that there he became friends with Conon of Samos and Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
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