95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up
On Spirals, preface (letter to Dositheus), c. 225 BC; trans. T. L. Heath, The Works of Archimedes (1897), p. 151.
Work
On Spirals, preface (letter to Dositheus); trans. T. L. Heath, 1897
Occasion
c. 225 BC · Syracuse, Sicily · from his letter explaining why he waited years before publishing proofs of his hardest theorems
Sources checked
archive.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 22 August 2026Full djvu text read this pass; verbatim incl. the opening 'In fact,' which Wikiquote's rendering drops (popular form noted here per exact-words law). Continuation (Conon's death, the unstirred problems) elaborates, no reversal.
Nothing made from these words yet — is where they get made.