Jona Lendering points out that the common story that Archimedes used mirrors to set fire to Roman galleys rests on, erm, no historical source earlier than half a millennium later. He lists the data and concludes the whole story is a legend. Very interesting indeed, and highlights the need to tabulate the data before evaluating it.
Roger Pearse
Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online, information access, and more