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Invention of the Water Organ (Hydraulis) and Force Pump by Ctesibius of Alexandria (Hellenistic period)
Dossier in brief
Place, time and memory in one narrative.
Ctesibius of Alexandria is associated with the water organ and force pump. Vitruvius describes his Alexandrian origin and explains how air and water work in these devices.
Historical event · mid-3rd century BCE · deniz-doga
Event
Ctesibius belongs to the Alexandrian mechanical tradition, distinct from Pergamon's urban history.
Chronology
Vitruvius discusses his inventions in Books IX and X without assigning an exact invention year.
Spatial trace
Alexandria is the birthplace named by Vitruvius. The existing [Pergamon](/en/place/bergama) connection is a separate reading of ancient engineering.
Legacy and limits
The pump and organ put air and water to different uses: lifting water and producing sound.
Periods
- Hellenistic era