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Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born ca. 80/70 BC?; died ca. 25 BC) was a Ancient Rome
writer, architect and engineer (possibly prefect or
architectus armamentarius of the
apparitor status group), active in the 1st century BC.
Biography
Little is known about Vitruvius' life. His first name
Marcus and his
cognomen Pollio are uncertain as they are only mentioned by Cetius Faventinus. Most inferences about his life are extracted from his only surviving work
De Architectura.
Born a free Roman citizen, most likely at Formiae in Campania, he served the
Roman army under
Julius Caesar in Hispania and Gaul. As an army engineer he specialized in the construction of
Siege engine for sieges. In later years the emperor Augustus, through his sister Octavia Minor, sponsored Vitruvius, entitling him with a pension to guarantee his financial independence. His date of death is unknown, which suggests that he had enjoyed only little popularity during his lifetime.
De Architectura
The author of
De architectura, known today as
The Ten Books on Architecture, a treatise written of Latin and
Koine Greek on
architecture, dedicated to the emperor Augustus, is the only surviving major book on architecture from classical antiquity. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect.
Frontinus mentions him in connection with the standard sizes of pipe (material)#Sizes. (Aq. I.25) The only building, however, that we know Vitruvius to have worked on is, as he himself tells us, (de Arch. V.i.6) a
basilica at Fanum Fortunae, now the modern town of Fano. The basilica has disappeared so completely that its very site is a matter of conjecture.
by Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvius is most 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 strong or durable, useful, and beautiful. 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 ancient Greek invented the architectural orders:
Doric order, Ionic order and
Corinthian order. 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 magnificently 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 on 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 architecture 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.
It is something to note that Vitruvius advises that lead should not be used to conduct drinking water. He comes to this conclusion in Book VIII of De Architectura after observing the apparent laborer illnesses in the
plumbum founderies of his time. In 1986 the United States banned the use of lead in plumbing due to
lead poisonings neurological damage.
Rediscovery
His book
De architectura was rediscovered in 1414 by the Florentine humanist
Poggio Bracciolini. To
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) 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. Translations followed in Italian (Como, 1521), French (Jean Martin, 1547 http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Notice/ENSBA_LES1785.asp, English, German (Walter H. Ryff, 1543) and Spanish and several other languages. The original illustrations had been lost. New woodcut illustrations, based on descriptions in the text, were added in the 16th century, probably by
Fra Giovanni Giocondo in Venice in 1511.http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Notice/CESR_2994.asp 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 architecture.
Lists of names given in Book VII Introduction
List of physicistsThales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes
List of philosophersSocrates,
Plato, Aristotle,
Zeno, Epicurus
List of kingsCroesus,
Alexander the Great, Darius
On plagiarismAristophanes,
Ptolemy I Soter, Attalus
On abusing dead authorsZoilus, Homeromastix, Ptolemy I Soter, Philadelphus
On divergence of the visual raysAgatharcus, Aeschylus,
Democritus,
AnaxagorasList of writers on templesSilenus,
Theodorus,
Chersiphron and Metagenes,
Pytheos,
Ictinus and Carpion, Theodorus the Phocian,
Hermogenes, Arcesius,
Satyrus and
PytheosList of ArtistsLeochares, Bryaxis,
Scopas,
Praxiteles, Timotheus (
Timotheos)
List of writers on laws of symmetryNexaris, Theocydes, Demophilus, Pollis, Leonidas, Silanion, Melampus,
Sarnacus,
EuphranorList of writers on machineryDiades of Pella,
Archytas, Archimedes,
Ctesibius,
Nymphodorus,
Philo of Byzantium,
Diphilus, Democles,
Charias, Polyidus,
Pyrrus,
AgesistratusList of writers on architectureFuficius,
Terentius Varro, Publius Septimius
List of architectsAntistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides, Pormus, Cossutius
List of greatest temple architectsChersiphron of Gnosus, Metagenes,
Demetrius, Paeonius the Milesian, Ephesian Daphnis,
Ictinus, (Philo) Philon,
Cossutius, Gaius Mucius
See Also
References
- 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.
External links
- 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. Images. Latin text has hyperlinks to pop-up dictionary.
- Latin text, version 2
- (Morris Hicky Morgan translation with illustrations)
- Vitruvius on line: http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Auteur/Vitruve.asp
- 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
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born ca. 80/70 BC?; died ca. 25 BC) was a Ancient Rome
writer, architect and engineer (possibly
prefect or
architectus armamentarius of the
apparitor status group), active in the
1st century BC.
Biography
Little is known about Vitruvius' life. His first name
Marcus and his cognomen
Pollio are uncertain as they are only mentioned by
Cetius Faventinus. Most inferences about his life are extracted from his only surviving work
De Architectura.
Born a free Roman citizen, most likely at
Formiae in
Campania, he served the
Roman army under Julius Caesar in
Hispania and Gaul. As an
army engineer he specialized in the construction of
Siege engine for sieges. In later years the emperor Augustus, through his sister Octavia Minor, sponsored Vitruvius, entitling him with a pension to guarantee his financial independence. His date of death is unknown, which suggests that he had enjoyed only little popularity during his lifetime.
De Architectura
The author of
De architectura, known today as
The Ten Books on Architecture, a treatise written of Latin and Koine Greek on
architecture, dedicated to the emperor Augustus, is the only surviving major book on architecture from classical antiquity. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect. Frontinus mentions him in connection with the standard sizes of
pipe (material)#Sizes. (Aq. I.25) The only building, however, that we know Vitruvius to have worked on is, as he himself tells us, (de Arch. V.i.6) a
basilica at Fanum Fortunae, now the modern town of
Fano. The basilica has disappeared so completely that its very site is a matter of conjecture.
by Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvius is most 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 strong or durable, useful, and beautiful. 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 ancient Greek invented the architectural orders: Doric order,
Ionic order and Corinthian order. 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 magnificently 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 on 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 architecture 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.
It is something to note that Vitruvius advises that lead should not be used to conduct drinking water. He comes to this conclusion in Book VIII of De Architectura after observing the apparent laborer illnesses in the plumbum founderies of his time. In 1986 the United States banned the use of lead in plumbing due to
lead poisonings neurological damage.
Rediscovery
His book
De architectura was rediscovered in 1414 by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini. To
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) 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. Translations followed in Italian (Como, 1521), French (Jean Martin, 1547 http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Notice/ENSBA_LES1785.asp, English, German (Walter H. Ryff, 1543) and Spanish and several other languages. The original illustrations had been lost. New woodcut illustrations, based on descriptions in the text, were added in the 16th century, probably by Fra Giovanni Giocondo in Venice in 1511.http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Notice/CESR_2994.asp 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 architecture.
Lists of names given in Book VII Introduction
List of physicistsThales,
Democritus, Anaxagoras,
XenophanesList of philosophersSocrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Zeno, Epicurus
List of kingsCroesus,
Alexander the Great,
DariusOn plagiarismAristophanes,
Ptolemy I Soter, Attalus
On abusing dead authorsZoilus, Homeromastix, Ptolemy I Soter,
PhiladelphusOn divergence of the visual raysAgatharcus,
Aeschylus, Democritus,
AnaxagorasList of writers on templesSilenus, Theodorus, Chersiphron and
Metagenes,
Pytheos, Ictinus and Carpion, Theodorus the
Phocian, Hermogenes, Arcesius, Satyrus and Pytheos
List of ArtistsLeochares, Bryaxis, Scopas,
Praxiteles, Timotheus (
Timotheos)
List of writers on laws of symmetryNexaris,
Theocydes, Demophilus,
Pollis, Leonidas, Silanion, Melampus, Sarnacus, Euphranor
List of writers on machineryDiades of Pella, Archytas, Archimedes,
Ctesibius, Nymphodorus,
Philo of Byzantium,
Diphilus, Democles,
Charias, Polyidus, Pyrrus,
AgesistratusList of writers on architectureFuficius, Terentius Varro, Publius Septimius
List of architectsAntistates,
Callaeschrus,
Antimachides, Pormus,
CossutiusList of greatest temple architectsChersiphron of Gnosus,
Metagenes,
Demetrius,
Paeonius the Milesian, Ephesian Daphnis,
Ictinus, (Philo)
Philon,
Cossutius,
Gaius Mucius
See Also
References
- 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.
External links
- 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. Images. Latin text has hyperlinks to pop-up dictionary.
- Latin text, version 2
- (Morris Hicky Morgan translation with illustrations)
- Vitruvius on line: http://www.cesr.univ-tours.fr/architectura/Traite/Auteur/Vitruve.asp
- 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
Vitruvius Ten Books
Definitions, History, Theory, Sustainability, 100 Best Books, Plato, Origins of landscape Architecture, Alberti & landscape architecture, Vitruvius & landscape architecture
Vitruvius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. 80–70 BC, died after c. 15 BC) was a Roman writer, architect and engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum during military service or praefect ...
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Welcome to Vitruvius specialists in Marble, Slate, Granite, Limestone. Vitruvius also specialise in Pietre Dure, Scagliola, Florentine mosaic, inlaid marble, restoration, bespoke ...
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Vitruvius's theories of beauty
Vitruvius's theories of proportion in relation to the body ... Find more Vitruvian images in the Vitruvius Gallery. Is it possible to identify a universal sense of beauty - a ...
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Encyclopedia article about Vitruvius. Information about Vitruvius in the Columbia Encyclopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, computing dictionary. marcus vitruvius pollio
VITRUVIUS De architectura Libri X
This site is about the ten books of architecture as written by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio in the first century A.D., during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. Latin text and ...
LacusCurtius • Vitruvius on Architecture
English entry page to the complete Latin text of the De Architectura, plus an English translation. (Roman architecture)
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Vitruvius Publishing - Country House architecture ... author, edit and produce occasional publications that specialise in the history and architecture of British and Irish castles ...
Vitruvius
m. vitrvvivs pollio (c. 80/70 – c. 25 b.c.) de architectvra
