Archimedes was a Greek physicist, mathematician and inventor. The "Spiral of Archimedes" and the "Lever" are some of his creations. He developed the idea of "specific gravity" called the "Principle of Archimedes". Archimedes was born in the Greek colony of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, around 287 BC. C. He was the son of Phidias, a Greek astronomer who used to gather in his home the elite of philosophers and men of science to exchange ideas about his works. At that time, Hieron II reigned, who had a certain degree of kinship with the family of Archimedes. Archimedes died in Syracuse in 212 BC, on the day of the capture of Syracuse by Rome.