In the 15th and 16th centuries, Archimedes was the legendary figure of reference for generations of mechanical engineers. The names of Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), Mariano di Jacopo, known as Taccola (1382-c. 1453), who called himself "the Sienese Archimedes", Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) remain inextricably linked to the invention of astonishing machines - for warfare, hydraulics, construction sites and entertainment - that anticipated the progress in mechanical science achieved in the following century by Guidobaldo del Monte (1545-1607) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). The myth of Archimedes favored the affirmation of two new professional figures: the artist-engineer, who operated in 15th-century courts, transforming the status of the ingeniarius from that of simple ‘mechanic’ to that of authority in ancient technology, author, and partner in dialogue of literates and humanists; and the engineer-scientist, who operated in the major European universities in the next century, contributing to make the ars mechanica a mathematical discipline.