古希腊曾流传着这样一个神话:公元前四 百年左右,希腊第罗斯岛上流行伤寒病,许多 人得病死亡,为了消除这个灾难,人们便一起 到岛上的神庙去祈求神灵保佑,太阳神阿波罗 说:“如果要使疫病被制止,除非把我神殿前的 立方体祭坛不改变形状而使体积增大原来的 两倍.”当第罗斯岛人听说之后,很高兴,认为 这很容易做到,以为只要把立方体祭坛的各棱 长放长一倍就可以了.于是,他们就做了一个 新祭坛.但是,疫病并没有停止,反而更加猖獗 蔓延.原来他们做的那个新祭坛是原来体积的 八倍,而不是原来的两倍. In ancient Greece, a myth was circulated that about 400 years BC, typhoid fever developed on Diros Island in Greece. Many people died of illness. In order to eliminate this disaster, people went to the temple on the island to pray for the protection of the sun. God Apollo said: “If the disease is to be stopped, unless the cube altar in front of my temple is not changed in shape and double in size.” When the Diros heard, he was glad to think that It was easy to do this, as long as the lengths of the cube altars were doubled. Then they made a new altar. However, the epidemic did not stop, but it was even more rampant. It was the one they had done. The new altar is eight times the original volume, not twice as many.