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The Archimedes screw was used in Egypt to raise water from the Nile for irrigation — perhaps I designed it during my time in Alexandria, perhaps I only improved an existing device. Diodorus Siculus credits me with it; I will not argue the point either way.

The principle is elegant: a helix within a cylinder, turned by a handle. Water enters at the bottom, is caught between the turns of the helix, and is carried upward as the screw rotates. No pumping action, no valve, no power source beyond a man or a ox turning a handle. It is still in use in wastewater treatment plants and grain elevators.

My preferred works were mathematical — the measurement of the circle, the quadrature of the parabola, the calculation of pi. The machines I made to defend Syracuse were effective but inelegant. The screw is different. The screw is a theorem made physical.