Is the author of Ecclesiastes referring to Archimedes?

Question

The following passage is Ecclesiastes 9:14

A small city, and few people in it, and a great king comes there, and encircled it and built upon it great fortifications. And he found in it, a poor wise man, who delivered the city in his wisdom, and nobody remembered this poor man.

Upon reading this, I immediately thought of Archimedes. I found people calling this an analogy.

But considering the late date of Ecc, could this be a direct reference to the siege of Syracuse? Is it consistent with the dating of the text to identify the "poor wise man" as Archimedes?

Answer 1

According to The Interpreter's Bible, the language is written in a late form of Hebrew and so:

As judged by it's language, the book of Ecclesiastes is much later than the work of the Chronicler and later than the book of Esther (ca. 300 B.C.).

If you agree with the 3rd century B.C. dating of Ecclesiastes, then perhaps it could be seen as an analogy, however I would argue against it being direct reference because of two points:

1. Archimedes is famous today and was famous then - orders were given for him not to be harmed (although despite this he was killed)
2. In Ecclesiastes 9:15 the little city was delivered. This was not the case for Syracuse.

Answer 2

The identification of the "poor wise man" in Qohelet (= Ecclestiastes) 9.14-16 (who rescued his city from the siege) with Archimedes (who rescued Syracuse from several Roman sieges) goes back to Moritz Friedlander in his book Griechische Philosophie im Alten Testament, Berlin, Reimer 1904, pp. 153-6 (Reprinted Vero Verlag, 2014). There is much to say in favor of this identification, because it matches in many details Qohelet's text, but this needs a long discussion. Peter writes: "In Ecclesiastes 9:15 the little city was delivered. This was not the case for Syracuse." But Polybius tells that Archimedes rescued Syracuse continuously from many Roman attacks by his clever mechanical devices, and this is what Qohelet means (although the city fell at last and Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier).

In a paper "Ecclesiastes" by Paul Haupt (The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1905), pp. 125-171) the author argues convincingly (p. 126) that Qohelet (=Ecclestiastes) must have heard about Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BCE); for in 4.I3-I6 he says that he saw the general enthusiasm for the poor but wise youth (i. e., Demetrius I Soter or Alexander Balas (a pretender)) who succeeded (I50 B. C.) to the throne of the old and foolish king (i. e., Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was described as a madman). There is much to say in favor of this identification as well, but this needs a long historical and philological discussion. My guess is that Qohelet is one of the earlier Hasmonean priest-kings (perhaps John Hyrcanus I (134 BCE) or Alexander Jannaeus (100 BCE)), because his "water pools" described in Qohelet 2.6 match the water pools of the Winter Palaces of the Hasmonean kings near Jericho, excavated by the archaeologist Ehud Netzer in the mid 1970's.

Answer 3

The book of Ecclesiastes is more abstract. It's talking more in general about several cases rather than one specific city, one specific king, and one specific poor man.