Vitruvius

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A 1684 depiction of Vitruvius (right) presenting De Architectura to Augustus

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. 8070 BC, died after c. 15 BC) was a Roman writer, architect and
engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De
Architectura ("On Architecture").
By his own description[1] Vitruvius served as a ballista (artilleryman), the third class of arms in the military
offices. He likely served as chief of the ballista (senior officer of artillery) in charge of doctores
ballistarum (artillery experts) andlibratores who actually operated the machines.[2]
Contents
[hide]

1 Life and career

2 Vitruvius' De Architectura libri decem (De
architectura)
3 Roman technology

3.1 Machines

3.2 Aqueducts

3.3 Materials

3.4 Dewatering machines

3.5 Surveying instruments

3.6 Central heating

4 Rediscovery
5 Lists of names given in Book VII Introduction
6 Legacy
7 See also
8 References

9 External links

[edit]Life

and career

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, an illustration of the human body inscribed in the circle and the square derived
from a passage about geometry and human proportions in Vitruvius's writings

Little is known about Vitruvius' life. Most inferences about him are extracted from his only surviving
work De Architectura. His first name Marcus and his cognomen Pollio are uncertain. He was possibly
a praefectus fabrum during military service or praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status
group. Cetius Faventinus speaks of "Vitruvius Polio aliique auctores" in his epitome; it is possible that the
cognomen derives from this mention by Cetius, meaning Vitruvius, Polio, and others further confusing the
cognomen, an inscription in Verona names Lucius Vitruvius Cordo and an inscription from Thilbilis North
Africa (nearGuelma[3]) names Marcus Vitruvius Mamurra. From this inscription the archaeologist Dr. G. Q.
Giglioli nearly concludes that Vitruvius and Mamurra are from the same family; his argument is presented
by Ettore Pais:
That [name is] very common in Formiae and regions adjacent, as well Dr. Giglioli observes, it is rare
elsewhere. Indeed so far, except for some historical figures, that, as the writer Vitruvius Vitruvius and
Vacca, Formiae belonged to or who are assigned to it, this [name] is not [natively] found in Numidia. And
only in a epigraph of this region [Dr. Giglioli] has recovered the memory of a member of the [family]
Mamurra Vitruvius." and deduces he is "of the same family as [the] well [known rider from] Formia.[4]
The Roman military officer Mamurra also served as praefectus fabrum in Hispania, Gaul andPontus under
Julius Caesar. Paul Thielscher moved the conclusions of Dr. Giglioli further and concluded that these two
men are the same.[5] There are inconsistencies with this conclusion, such as there is no mention
of Caesar's invasions of Britain in De Architectura, nor of other things with which Mamurra was associated,

such as equestrian military practices, and a love for nepotism and personal wealth. Additionally, Caesar
received a letter that can be inferred to have news of Mamurra's death, whereas Vitruvius dedicated De
Architectura to the emperor Augustus.
He appears to be known to Pliny the Elder through his description of constructing mosaics in Naturalis
Historia.[6] Although he is not actually named in that passage, he does appear in Naturalis Historia 1 (the
table of contents). Frontinus refers to "Vitruvius the architect" in his late 1st-century work De aquaeductu.
Likely born a free Roman citizen, by his own account Vitruvius served the Roman army under Julius
Caesar with the otherwise poorly identified Marcus Aurelius, Publius Minidius, and Gnaeus Cornelius.
These names vary depending on the edition of De architectura. Publius Minidius is also written as Publius
Numidicus and Publius Numidius, speculated as the same Publius Numisius inscribed on theRoman
Theatre at Heraclea.[7] As an army engineer he specialized in the construction
of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines forsieges. It is speculated that Vitruvius served with Julius
Caesar's Chief Engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus.[8] The locations where he served can be reconstructed
from, for example, descriptions of the building methods of various "foreign tribes". Although he describes
places throughout De Architectura, he does not say he was present. His service likely included north
Africa, Hispania, Gaul (includingAquitaine) and Pontus.
To place the role of Vitruvius the military engineer in context, a description of "The Praefect of the camp" or
army engineer is quoted here as given by Flavius Vegetius Renatus in The Military Institutions of the
Romans:
The Praefect of the camp, though inferior in rank to the [Praefect], had a post of no small importance. The
position of the camp, the direction of the entrenchments, the inspection of the tents or huts of the soldiers
and the baggage were comprehended in his province. His authority extended over the sick, and the
physicians who had the care of them; and he regulated the expenses relative thereto. He had the charge of
providing carriages, bathhouses and the proper tools for sawing and cutting wood, digging trenches, raising
parapets, sinking wells and bringing water into the camp. He likewise had the care of furnishing the troops
with wood and straw, as well as the rams, onagri, balistae and all the other engines of war under his
direction. This post was always conferred on an officer of great skill, experience and long service, and who
consequently was capable of instructing others in those branches of the profession in which he had
distinguished himself.[9]
At various locations described by Vitruvius,[citation needed] battles and sieges occurred. He is the only source for
the siege of Larignum 56 BC.[10] Of the battlegrounds of the Gallic War there are references to: The siege
and massacre of the 40,000 residents at Avaricum 52 BC; Vercingetorix commented that "the Romans did
not conquer by valor nor in the field, but by a kind of art and skill in assault, with which they [Gauls]
themselves were unacquainted."[11] The broken siege at Gergovia 52 BC. The circumvallation and Battle of
Alesia 52 BC; the women and children of the encircled city were evicted to conserve food, where they
starved to death between the opposing walls of the defenders and besiegers. And the siege
of Uxellodunum 51 BC. These are all sieges of large Gallic oppida. Of the sites involved inCaesar's civil

war, we find the Siege of Massilia 49 BC,[12] the Battle of Dyrrhachium of 48 BC (modern Albania),
the Battle of Pharsalus48 BC (Hellas - Greece), the Battle of Zela of 47 BC (modern Turkey) and the Battle
of Thapsus 46 BC in Caesar's African campaign.[13]A legion that fits the same sequence of locations is
the Legio VI Ferrata, of which ballista would be an auxilia unit.
Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect. In Roman times architecture was a
broader subject than at present including the modern fields of architecture, construction
management, construction engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering,materials
engineering, mechanical engineering, military engineering and urban planning.[14] Frontinus mentions him in
connection with the standard sizes of pipes.[15] The only building, however, that we know Vitruvius to have
worked on is one he tells us about,[16] a basilicacompleted in 19 BC.[17] It was built at Fanum Fortunae, now
the modern town of Fano. The Basilica di Fano (to give the building its Italian name) has disappeared so
completely that its very site is a matter of conjecture, although various attempts have been made to
visualise it.[18] The early Christian practice of converting Roman basilica (public buildings) into cathedrals
implies the basilica may be incorporated into the cathedral located in Fano.
In later years the emperor Augustus, through his sister Octavia Minor, sponsored Vitruvius, entitling him
with what may have been apension to guarantee financial independence.[1] If De architectura was written by
one author or is a compilation completed by subsequent librarians and copyists, remains an open question.
The date of his death is unknown, which suggests that he had enjoyed only little popularity during his
lifetime.[citation needed]
Gerolamo Cardano, in his 16th book De subtilitate rerum, ranks Vitruvius as one of the 12 persons, whom
he supposes to have excelled all men in the force of genius and invention; and would not have scrupled to
have given him the first place, if it could be imagined that he had delivered nothing but his own discoveries.
[19]

[edit]Vitruvius'

De Architectura libri decem (De architectura)

Greek house plan after Vitruvius

Vitruvius is the author of De architectura, known today as The Ten Books on Architecture,[20]a treatise
written in Latin and Greek on architecture, dedicated to the emperor Augustus. In the preface of Book I,
Vitruvius dedicates his writings so to give personal knowledge of the quality of buildings to the emperor.
Likely Vitruvius is referring to Marcus Agrippa's campaign of public repairs and improvements. This work is
the only surviving major book on architecture from classical antiquity. According to Petri Liukkonen, this text

"influenced deeply from theEarly Renaissance onwards artists, thinkers, and architects, among them Leon
Battista Alberti (1404-72), Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), and Michelangelo (1475-1564)."[21] The next
major book on architecture, Alberti's reformulation of Ten Books, was not written until 1452.
Vitruvius is famous for asserting in his book De architectura that a structure must exhibit the three qualities
of firmitas, utilitas, venustas that is, it must be solid, useful, beautiful. These are sometimes termed
the Vitruvian virtues or the Vitruvian Triad. According to Vitruvius, architecture is an imitation of nature.
As birds and bees built their nests, so humans constructed housing from natural materials, that gave them
shelter against the elements. When perfecting this art of building, the Greeks invented the architectural
orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. It gave them a sense of proportion, culminating in understanding the
proportions of the greatest work of art: the human body. This led Vitruvius in defining his Vitruvian Man, as
drawn later by Leonardo da Vinci: the human body inscribed in the circle and the square (the fundamental
geometric patterns of the cosmic order).
Vitruvius is sometimes loosely referred to as the first architect, but it is more accurate to describe him as
the first Roman architect to have written surviving records of his field. He himself cites older but less
complete works. He was less an original thinker or creative intellect than a codifier of existing architectural
practice. It should also be noted that Vitruvius had a much wider scope than modern architects. Roman
architects practised a wide variety of disciplines; in modern terms, they could be described as
being engineers, architects, landscape architects, artists, and craftsmen combined. Etymologically the word
architect derives from Greek words meaning 'master' and 'builder'. The first of the Ten Books deals with
many subjects which now come within the scope of landscape architecture.

[edit]Roman

technology

Drainage wheel from Rio Tinto mines

Books VIII, IX and X form the basis of much of what we know about Roman technology, now augmented by
archaeological studies of extant remains, such as the water mills at Barbegal inFrance. The other major
source of information is the Naturalis Historia compiled by Pliny the Eldermuch later in ca 75 AD.

[edit]Machines
The work is important for its descriptions of the many different machines used for engineering structures
such as hoists, cranes and pulleys, as well as war machines such as catapults andballistae, and siege
engines. As a practising engineer, Vitruvius must be speaking from personal experience rather than simply
describing the works of others. He also describes the construction of sundials and water clocks, and the
use of an aeolipile (the first steam engine) as an experiment to demonstrate the nature of atmospheric air
movements (wind).

[edit]Aqueducts
His description of aqueduct construction includes the way they are surveyed, and the careful choice of
materials needed, although Frontinus (a general who was appointed in the late 1st century AD to
administer the many aqueducts of Rome), writing a century later, gives much more detail of the practical
problems involved in their construction and maintenance. Surely Vitruvius' book would have been of great
assistance in this. Vitruvius was writing in the 1st century BC when many of the finest Roman
aqueducts were built, and survive to this day, such as those at Segovia and the Pont du Gard. The use of
the inverted siphon is described in detail, together with the problems of high pressures developed in the
pipe at the base of the siphon, a practical problem with which he seems to be acquainted.

[edit]Materials
He describes many different construction materials used for a wide variety of different structures, as well as
such details as stuccopainting. Concrete and lime receive in-depth descriptions, the longevity of many
Roman structures being mute testimony to the Romans' skill in building materials and design.
Vitruvius is well known and often cited as one of the earliest surviving sources to have advised
that lead should not be used to conduct drinking water, recommending clay pipes or masonry channels. He
comes to this conclusion in Book VIII of De Architectura after empirical observation of the
apparent laborer illnesses in the lead foundries of his time.[22]
Vitruvius gives us the famous story about Archimedes and his detection of adulterated gold in a royal
crown. When Archimedes realised that the volume of the crown could be measured exactly by the
displacement created in a bath of water, he ran into the street with the cry of Eureka!, and the discovery
enabled him to compare the density of the crown with pure gold. He showed that the crown had been
alloyed with silver, and the king defrauded.

[edit]Dewatering

machines

Design for an Archimedean water-screw

He describes the construction of Archimedes' screw in Chapter X (without mentioning Archimedes by

name). It was a device widely used for raising water to irrigate fields and dewater mines. Other lifting
machines he mentions include the endless chain of buckets and the reverse overshot water-wheel.
Remains of the water wheels used for lifting water have been discovered when old mines were re-opened
at Rio Tinto in Spain and Dolaucothi in west Wales. The Rio Tinto wheel is now shown in the British
Museum, and the Dolaucothi specimen in the National Museum of Wales.

[edit]Surveying

instruments

That he must have been well practised in surveying is shown by his descriptions of surveying instruments,
especially the water level orchorobates, which he compares favourably with the groma, a device
using plumb lines. They were essential in all building operations, but especially in aqueduct construction,
where a uniform gradient was important to provision of a regular supply of water without damage to the
walls of the channel. He also developed one of the first odometers, consisting of a wheel of known
circumference that dropped a pebble into a container on every rotation.

[edit]Central

heating

Ruins of the hypocaust under the floor of a Roman villa. The part under the exedra is covered.

He describes the many innovations made in building design to improve the living conditions of the
inhabitants. Foremost among them is the development of the hypocaust, a type of central heating where
hot air developed by a fire was channelled under the floor and inside the walls ofpublic baths and villas. He
gives explicit instructions how to design such buildings so that fuel efficiency is maximised, so that for
example, the caldarium is next to the tepidarium followed by the frigidarium. He also advises on using a
type of regulator to control the heat in the hot rooms, a bronze disc set into the roof under a circular
aperture which could be raised or lowered by a pulley to adjust the ventilation. Although he does not
suggest it himself, it is likely that his dewatering devices such as the reverse overshot water-wheel was
used in the larger baths to lift water to header tanks at the top of the larger thermae, such as the Baths of
Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla.

[edit]Rediscovery

Battle of Thapsus as depicted in an engraving after Andrea Palladio

The interior of the Pantheon (from an 18th-century painting by Panini). Although built after Vitruvius' death, its excellent
state of preservation makes it of great importance to those interested in Vitruvian architecture

His book De architectura was rediscovered in 1414 by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini. To Leon
Battista Alberti (14041472) falls the honour of making this work widely known in his seminal treatise on
architecture De re aedificatoria (ca. 1450). The first known edition of Vitruvius was in Rome by Fra
Giovanni Sulpitius in 1486.[23][24] Translations followed in Italian (Como, 1521), French (Jean Martin, 1547,
[25]

English, German (Walter H. Ryff, 1543) and Spanish and several other languages. The original

illustrations had been lost and the first illustrated edition was published in Venice in 1511
with woodcut illustrations, based on descriptions in the text, probably by Fra Giovanni Giocondo.[26] Later in
the 16th-century Andrea Palladio provided illustrations forDaniele Barbaro's commentary on Vitruvius
(which appeared in Italian and Latin versions). However, the most famous illustration remains a 15thcentury one, Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
The surviving ruins of Roman antiquity, the Roman Forum, temples, theatres, triumphal arches and their
reliefs and statues gave ample visual examples of the descriptions in the Vitruvian text. This book then
quickly became a major inspiration for Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical architecture. Brunelleschi,
for example, invented a new type of hoist to lift the large stones for the dome of the cathedral
in Florence and was prompted by De Architectura as well as viewing the many surviving Roman
monuments like the Pantheon and the Baths of Diocletian in Rome.

[edit]Lists

of names given in Book VII Introduction

In book seven's introduction Vitruvius goes through great lengths to present his credentials for writing De
Architectura. Similar in concept to a modern day reference section, the author's position as one who is
knowledgeable and educated is established. The topics listed range across many fields of expertise
reflecting that in Roman times as today construction is a diverse field. Vitruvius makes the further point that
the work of some of the most talented are unknown, while many who are of lesser talent but greater
political position are famous. This theme runs through Vitruviuss ten books repeatedly. Here in the
introduction to Chapter 7, he illustrates this by naming what he considers are the most talented individuals
in history. He predicts that some of these individuals will be forgotten and their works lost despite their
contribution while other less deserving political characters of history will be forever remembered with
pageantry; the red links below do not have a Wikipedia page and outside of inclusion on Vitruviuss list
under a categorization, nothing is known of them. Ironically, they may be unknown because the
ancientLibrary of Alexandria was accidentally burned in 48 BC during a siege by Julius Caesar. Vitruvius
does not mention the architecture of Egypt so was probably not involved in this siege.

List of physicists Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes

List of philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus

List of kings Croesus, Alexander the Great, Darius

On plagiarism Aristophanes, Ptolemy I Soter, Attalus

On abusing dead authors Zoilus Homeromastix, Ptolemy II

Philadelphus

On divergence of the visual

rays Agatharchus, Aeschylus, Democritus, Anaxagoras

List of writers on
temples Silenus, Theodorus, Chersiphron and Metagenes, Ictinus and
Carpion, Theodorus the
Phocian,Hermogenes, Arcesius, Satyrus and Pytheos

List of Artists Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas, Praxiteles, Timotheus

(Timotheos)

List of writers on laws of

symmetry Nexaris, Theocydes, Demophilus, Pollis, Leonidas, Silanion,
Melampus, Sarnacus, Euphranor

List of writers on machinery Diades of

Pella, Archytas, Archimedes, Ctesibius, Nymphodorus, Philo of
Byzantium, Diphilus,Democles, Charias, Polyidus of
Thessaly, Pyrrus, Agesistratus, Abdaraxus

List of writers on architecture Fuficius, Terentius Varro, Publius

Septimius (writer)

List of
architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides, Pormus, Cossutius

List of greatest temple architects Chersiphron of

Gnosus, Metagenes, Demetrius, Paeonius the Milesian, Ephesian
Daphnis, Ictinus, (Philo) Philon, Cossutius, Gaius Mucius

[edit]Legacy

A small lunar crater has been named after Vitruvius and also an
elongated lunar mountain Mons Vitruvius close-by. This crater was
near the valley that served as the landing site of the Apollo 17 mission.

The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) tool for the measurement of the
design quality of buildings uses Vitruvius's principles.

[edit]See

also

Archimedes

Aristotle

Ctesibius

Colen Campbell

Frontinus

Pliny the Elder

Roman architecture

Roman aqueducts

Roman engineering

Roman technology

Vitruvian man

Vitruvian scroll

Lucius Vitruvius Cordo

[edit]References
1.

^ a b De Arch. Book 1, preface. section 2

2.

^ Yann Le Bohec "The Imperial Roman Army" Routledge, pg 49

2000 ISBN 0-415-22295-8 [1]

3.

^ History of ancient North Africa: CONFLICTS AND BATTLES OF

THE HUMANITY, Ancient North Africa until the Roman conquest, last
assesed 10/09/2011. http://miltiade.pagespersoorange.fr/GB/Ancient_North_Africa.htm

4.

^ Pais, E. Ricerche sulla storia e sul diritto publico di Roma(Rome,

1916).

5.

^ Vitruvius Polliohttp://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Vitruvius.aspx

6.

^ Moore, Richard E. M. (January 1968). "A Newly Observed Stratum

in Roman Floor Mosaics". American Journal of
Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 72 (1): 57
68.JSTOR 501823.

7.

^ Niccol Marcello Venuti Description of the First Discoveries of the

Ancient City Of Heraclea, Found Near Portici A Country Palace
Belonging To The King Of The Two Sicilies published by R. Baldwin,
translated by Wickes Skurray, 1750. p62 [2]

8.

^ Trumbull, David (2007). "Classical Sources, Greek and Roman

Esthetics Reading: The Grand Tour Reader; Vitruvius Background:
Life of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 90-20 BC)". An Epitome of Book III
of Vitruvius. Retrieved 2009-11-18.[dead link]

9.

^ Flavius Vegetius Renatus The Military Institutions of the

Romans Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke, Text
written in 390 BC. British translation published in 1767. Copyright
Expired,http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/

10. ^ Planning the twentieth-century American city By Mary Corbin Sies,

Christopher Silver, JHU Press, 1996, page
42.http://books.google.com/books?
id=TUpLvJrKc64C&lpg=PA42&dq=battle%20of
%20Larignum&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q=battle%20of
%20Larignum&f=false
11. ^ Caesar, De bello Gallico 7.29
12. ^ Vitruvius mentions Massilia several times, and the siege itself
in Book X.
13. ^ "Vitruvius" from Pegasos website accessed August 2008
14. ^ The "Vitruvius Project" at Carnegie Mellon University, Computer
Science Department This software engineering project sees itself in
the Vitruvian tradition. Accessed August 2008
15. ^ De Aquis, I.25 (Latin) ebook of work also known as De aquaeductu,
accessed August 2008
16. ^ (De Arch., Book V.i.6) (Latin) but with link to English translation,
accessed August 2008

17. ^ Fausto Pugnaloni and Paolo Clini "Vitruvius Basilica in Fano, Italy,
journey through the virtual space of the reconstructed memory"
GISdevelopment.net last accessed 3/8/2008 [3]
18. ^ P. Clini "VITRUVIUS BASILICA AT FANO: THE DRAWINGS OF A
LOST BUILDING FROM DE ARCHITECTURA LIBRI DECEM" The
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and
Spatial Information Sciences, Vol. XXXIV, Part 5/W12 pp121 - 126
2002 [4]
19. ^ Charles Hutton, Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary(1795)
20. ^ Vitruvius, Pollio (transl. Morris Hicky Morgan, 1960), The Ten Books
on Architecture. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20645-9.
21. ^ Liukkonen, Petri (2008). "Vitruvius (fl. 46-30 B.C.E.)". Retrieved
November 14, 2009
22. ^ Hodge, Trevor, A. (October 1981). "Vitruvius, Lead Pipes and Lead
Poisoning". American Journal of Archaeology(Archaeological Institute
of America) 85 (4): 486491.JSTOR 504874.
23. ^ http://www.palladiancenter.org/predecessors.html
24. ^ http://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php?id=2840
25. ^ Architectura - Les livres d'Architecture (French)
26. ^ Architectura - Les livres d'Architecture; Center for Palladian Studies
in America, Inc., Palladio's Literary Predecessors

Indra Kagis McEwen, Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. ISBN O-262-63306-X

B. Baldwin, "The Date, Identity, and Career of Vitruvius." In Latomus 49

(1990), 425-34.

[edit]External

links

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to: Vitruvius
Wikiquote has a collection of
quotations related
to: Vitruvius

The Ten Books on Architecture online: cross-linked Latin text and

English translation

The Ten Books on Architecture at the Perseus Classics Collection.

Latin and English text, but the Latin text is unavailable. Images. Latin
text has hyperlinks to pop-up dictionary.

Palladio's Literary Predecessors

Latin text, version 2

An Abridgment of the Architecture of Vitruvius

Ten Books on Architecture at Project Gutenberg (Morris Hicky Morgan

translation with illustrations)

Vitruvius on line: *http://architectura.cesr.univtours.fr/Traite/Auteur/Vitruve.asp?param=

Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian man as an algorithm for the

approximation of the squaring of the circle

Vitruvius' theories of beauty - a learning resource from the British

Library

Shockwave-Animation: The Odometer of Vitruv

Discussion of the inventions of Vitruvius

"Diocese of Fano". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert

Appleton Company. 1913.

Spanish site dedicated to Roman technology, especially aqueducts and

mines

Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of

Oklahoma Libraries High resolution images of works by Vitruvius in .jpg
and .tiff format.

digital scans in high resolution of 73 editions of Vitruvius from 1497 to

1909 from the Werner Oechslin Library, Einsiedeln, Switzerland

Vitruvius Summary
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Authority control: PND: 118627252 | LCCN: n79043913 | VIAF: 46768430 | WorldCat

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