Eutocius of Ascalon (Εὐτόκιος ὁ Ἀσκαλωνίτης) Eutocius of Ascalon was a mathematician and commentator active in the 6th century CE. A native of Ascalon, he studied under the Neoplatonist philosopher Ammonius Hermiae in Alexandria, a connection he acknowledges in his own work [1][2]. Beyond this association with the intellectual milieu of late antique Alexandria, no further details of his life are recorded.

Eutocius is known for his extant commentaries on major Greek mathematical texts, which were crucial for their preservation and transmission. His works include commentaries on Archimedes' On the Sphere and Cylinder and Measurement of a Circle, as well as on the first four books of Apollonius of Perga's Conics [1][2][3]. A commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest is lost [1].

His historical significance lies in his role as an interpreter and preserver of classical mathematics. His commentaries provide valuable explanations of complex proofs and contain important historical digressions, such as preserving alternative solutions to the problem of doubling the cube from earlier mathematicians like Eratosthenes [1][2]. His work ensured the survival of these technical texts into Byzantine, Islamic, and later Latin scholarly traditions.

Sources 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Eutocius of Ascalon: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/eutocius/ 2. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Eutocius of Ascalon: https://iep.utm.edu/eutocius/ 3. Perseus Digital Library: Search for "Eutocius" (Catalog entries for his commentaries): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Eutocius