Vitruvius

Abstract

Vitruvius is the author of De architectura (c. 20s bce), the only text devoted to architecture that survives from classical antiquity. On the basis of internal evidence, scholars date Vitruvius’s De architectura to c. 27–22 bce. Across ten books of Latin prose dedicated to the emperor Augustus, Vitruvius lays out an ambitious and idiosyncratic vision of architecture. De architectura’s subject matter includes the education of architects and the principles of architecture (Book 1); building materials (Book 2); the construction of temples (Book 3 and Book 4); public buildings (Book 5); houses (Book 6); architectural decor (Book 7); sources of water (Book 8); astronomy, dials, and clocks (Book 9); and machines of war (Book 10). Nothing is securely known about the author, nor is his name attached to any other surviving texts. The readership and influence of De architectura in the ancient world remains mysterious: before Pliny the Elder names Vitruvius as one of the sources for his Naturalis Historia in the 1st century ce, there are no unmistakable signs of Vitruvian influence in Roman literature or architecture. The intelligentsia of the Italian Renaissance, by contrast, poured over De architectura and strenuously attempted to apply its principles, as witnessed by Andrea Palladio’s architectural designs and Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Vitruvian Man.” For archaeologists, classical art historians, and scholars of ancient science and engineering, Vitruvius remains a unique and precious source, and De architectura holds a place of honor within the academic curriculum of aspiring architects to this day. Nevertheless, ambiguity, inconsistency, and anachronism are but three challenges that dog any interpretation of De architectura as a factual account of Roman engineering, design, or building practices. Likewise, due to the perceived awkwardness and naivety of his prose (as well as his technical subject matter), Vitruvius traditionally has attracted little interest among scholars of classical literature.