 Archimedes protested at this interruption of his work and coarsely told the soldier to leave; the soldier, not knowing who he was (or perhaps aware of his identity as the designer of war machines that had killed hundreds of Romans), killed Archimedes on the spot.The Romans now controlled the outer city but the remainder of the population of Syracuse had quickly fallen back to the fortified inner citadel, offering continued resistance.The Romans now put siege to the citadel and were successful in cutting off supplies to this reduced area.