ウィトルーウィウスの「建築十書」の記述にみられる建築思想と周辺建築文化との関連性について

Abstract

The architectural treatise “De Architectura”, written around 20 BC by the roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, is the most recognized and analyzed architectural treatise in the history of mankind. Particularly in the Renaissance period, the Italian artists have shown great interest in Vitruvian treatise, upon which they have based their own architectural treatise. Through the Renaissance recognition of Vitruvian architectural theory, the European classical architecture acquired the tradition of proportional design called the “module system” as it is apparent in Le Corbusier's concept of “modulor”. On the other hand, the true image of Vitruvius and the historical context of his treatise are yet to be thoroughly understood. Reading “De Architetura”, it becomes obvious that Vitruvius often introduced Greek terms, when he describes technical matters in detail. However, when he draws examples from other regions such as Egypt, Persia or Cyrene, he uses Latin terms and the topic remains to be superficial, omitting details (Tab. 1-2). From this fact, it is obvious that his references for writing his treatise were limited to Latin and Greek sources. Looking outside of the Greco-Roman culture, we see that Vitruvius' architectural theory is hardly his original thought. For instance, the analogy between a temple and a human body is already existent in Ancient Egypt. In the so-called “Book of Temple”, there is a specification that certain column styles are to be differentiated between the male and the female deities. The archaeological evidences confirm the validity of this statement. Other archaeological evidences show that the gender was not the only aspect applied to the columns. Some columns had a funerary aspect, others acted as emblems of the land, etc. In the case of Ancient Egypt, one style gained multiple meanings as time went by, so that, at the end, the columns formed several groups to express different aspects in variety of situations. In contrast, Vitruvius limited and applied the concept of gender to only three orders, despite the fact that he admits the existence of other styles. The fact that these three orders originated from different regions and eras, seems to indicate that this group of symbolism cannot be earlier than the mid-5th Century BC, and also that the varieties of symbolic meanings also existed for the classical orders. In this sense, Vitruvius consciously chose and concentrated on the gender of the columns among other possible symbolisms of the columns. The module system described by Vitruvius may also have an Ancient Egyptian origin. In Egypt, there are some tantalizing evidences that show the use of module for elevation drawings of naos-shrines (Fig. 1-2). It shows that the width of the post is given one unit and other larger parts are given the multiples of the unit, and the smaller parts mostly the unit fractions. As for the Vitruvian system, the Doric system correlates with the Egyptian, whereas the Ionian system, the major dimensions of the building, which is defined by the primary module (= column diameter) as in the Doric system, becomes the secondary modules for the smaller parts that surrounding them. As a result, the Ionic system allows the architect to adjust a selected group of dimensions without disturbing the overall appearance. Although the cases considered in this paper comprises only a modest part of the treatise, it shows that Vitruvius unconsciously adopted the architectural philosophy of other culture, particularly the ancient Egyptian. In order to escape from the illusion that Vitruvius created and to understand the true context of the Vitruvian treatise, it is essential to reassess the Vitruvian architectural theory from the view of his contemporary and preceding architectural cultures.