The Siege of Syracuse by the Roman Republic took place in 214–212 BC, at the end of which the Magna Graecia Hellenistic city ofSyracuse, located on the east coast of Sicily, fell. The Romans stormed the city after a protracted siege giving them control of the entire island of Sicily. During the siege, the city was protected by weapons developed by Archimedes. Archimedes, the great inventor andpolymath, was slain at the conclusion of the siege by a Roman soldier, in contravention of the Roman general Marcellus' instructions to spare his life.^[1]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st Syracuse