Harpalus (astronomer)

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Harpalus was an ancient Greek astronomer (flourished during the 82nd Olympiad, c. 450 BC) who corrected the cycle of Cleostratus and invented the Nine Year Cycle.

He may also have been the engineer Harpalus, who designed a pontoon bridge solution when Xerxes wished his army to cross the Hellespont. [1]

The lunar crater Harpalus is named for him. [2] [3]

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Harpalus or Harpalos is a name reported by modern historical books as the engineer who built the pontoon bridge over the Hellespont for Xerxes in 480 BC. The primary source Herodotus (7.34-36) gives no specific name, except the following information:

the Phoenicians made a bridge of flaxen cables, and the Egyptians a papyrus one - a great storm swept them down - Xerxes, angry, commanded that the sea receive the punishment of whipping and that the overseers of the bridge be beheaded - and new engineers he set about making the bridges.

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References

Footnotes
  1. According to Hugh Pembroke Vowles. See Harpalus (engineer) for context.
  2. "Harpalus". The Moon. Retrieved Nov 20, 2019.
  3. "Harpalus crater". The Planetary Society. Retrieved Nov 20, 2019.