Loculus of Archimedes
The stomachion is a 14-piece dissection puzzle similar to tangrams. It is described in fragmentary manuscripts attributed to Archimedes as noted by Magnus Ausonius (310-395 A.D.). The puzzle is also referred to as the "loculus of Archimedes" (Archimedes' box) or "syntemachion" in Latin texts. The word stomachion has as its root the Greek word στ ο μα^' χι ο ν, meaning "stomach." Note that Ausonius refers to the figure as the "ostomachion, " an apparent corruption of the original Greek. The puzzle consists of 14 flat pieces of various shapes arranged in the shape of a square, with the vertices of pieces occurring on a 12×12 grid. Two pairs of pieces are duplicated. Like tangrams, the object is to rearrange the pieces to form interesting shapes such as the elephant illustrated above (Andrea).
