De architectura

**De architectura** (which means ***On Architecture***), often called ***Ten Books on Architecture***, is a book about building written by the Roman architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. He dedicated it to his patron, Emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for the emperor's many building projects.

It is the only complete book on architecture that survived from ancient times. Since the Renaissance, it has been considered the first book on architectural theory and a very important source on classical architecture.

The book has a wide variety of information on Greek and Roman buildings. It also gives directions for planning and designing military camps, cities, and structures, from large ones like aqueducts and buildings to small ones like machines and tools. Vitruvius wrote before some key Roman innovations, like the full development of domes and concrete, became common. Because of this, his ten books do not give much information on these famous Roman innovations.

The original copies likely had illustrations, but only one is known to have survived in the old handwritten copies. This lack of pictures was fixed in the 16th century when printed editions were made with many large illustrations.

Copies were made during the time of Charlemagne, but people didn't use them much until the 15th century. After that, the book became very influential, first in Italy and then in the rest of Europe.

## Origin and contents

The book was probably written between 30 and 20 BC. It combines the knowledge and views of many ancient Greek and Roman writers on architecture, the arts, natural history, and building technology. Vitruvius praises Greek architects for their development of temple building and the orders of architecture (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian).

The Roman author gives advice on what skills an architect should have (Book I) and on the types of drawings used in architecture.

He is famous for his "triad" of what a good building should have: _utilitas, firmitas, and venustas_. This means utility (usefulness), strength, and beauty. His ideas on proportion and design have guided architects for centuries.

The ten books are organized as follows:
1. City planning, architecture in general, and the qualifications needed to be an architect
1. Building materials
1. Temples and the orders of architecture (this includes the section on body proportions that inspired Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing)
1. A continuation of Book III
1. Public buildings
1. Private homes
1. Flooring and decorative plasterwork
1. Water supplies and aqueducts
1. Sciences that influence architecture – geometry, measurement, astronomy, and sundials
1. Use and construction of machines – including Roman siege engines, water mills, and other devices

Roman architects were skilled in engineering, art, and craftsmanship. Vitruvius's book reflects this, covering a wide variety of subjects he believed were related to architecture. This included many topics that might seem unrelated today, like mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. In the Roman view, architecture had to consider everything about human life and its surroundings.

### Buildings

Vitruvius wanted to address the philosophy of architecture. He said the quality of a building depends on its social value, not just its form. His most famous rule, translated into English, is: "A good building must have three things: strength, usefulness, and beauty."

Vitruvius also studied human proportions in Book III. His ideas were later used by Leonardo da Vinci in his famous drawing, the _Vitruvian Man_.

### Domestic architecture

While Vitruvius describes public buildings and machines in detail, his view on houses is mixed. Similar to the philosopher Aristotle, he praises people who build their own homes without an architect. Instead of writing about family life in the introduction to Book 6 (which is about houses), he writes about the Greek concept of _xenia_, which means showing kindness to strangers.

## Roman technology

_De architectura_ is important because it describes many different machines used for engineering. This includes hoists, cranes, and pulleys, as well as war machines like catapults and siege engines. Vitruvius also described how to build sundials and water clocks, and even a simple steam engine to show how wind works.

### Aqueducts and mills

Books 8, 9, and 10 are the basis for much of what we know about Roman technology. Huge structures like the Pont du Gard in France show the power of Roman engineering. Vitruvius's description of Roman aqueducts is short but includes key details about how they were surveyed and built.

The Romans exploited water power very well, as shown by a set of 16 water mills found in Barbegal, France. These mills ground grain very efficiently.

### Materials

Vitruvius described many construction materials. He wrote about cement, concrete, and lime. The long life of many Roman structures is a testament to their skill with materials.

He advised against using lead pipes for drinking water, preferring clay pipes instead. He came to this conclusion after seeing lead workers get sick. However, the hard water in Roman cities coated the inside of lead pipes with minerals, which may have reduced lead poisoning.

He also told the famous story of Archimedes figuring out that a gold crown was mixed with silver by measuring the water it displaced, leading him to shout "Eureka!"

### Dewatering machines

Vitruvius described the Archimedes' screw, a device for raising water to irrigate fields or drain mines. Other water-lifting machines he mentioned have been found in old mines in Spain and Wales. These machines could lift water very high and were probably also used as water wheels to power other machines.

### Force pump

Vitruvius described a force pump, invented by Ctesibius, made from bronze with valves. It was operated by moving a lever up and down. It could supply fountains or possibly be used as a simple fire engine. Examples have been found in England and are now in museums.

### Central heating

Vitruvius wrote about innovations like the hypocaust, a type of central heating for public baths and villas. Hot air from a fire was channeled under the floor and inside the walls. He gave instructions on how to design these buildings to use less fuel. He also described a bronze vent in the roof to control the heat in the rooms.

### Surveying instruments

Vitruvius was clearly an experienced surveyor. He described surveying instruments, especially the water level, which he preferred. These tools were essential for building projects, especially aqueducts, which needed a very steady slope. He also described a device for automatically measuring road distances.

### Sea level change

In his book, Vitruvius lists 13 cities. He says that one of them, Myus, was "long ago engulfed by the water." This shows that the Romans knew that sea levels could change or land could sink. The location of this city is now inland, meaning the sea level has fallen or the land has risen. Later, many Roman ports had problems with silting, which was expensive to fix. The remains of Roman salt works in Essex, England, are now found inland, which also shows how the coastline has changed.

### Manuscripts

Vitruvius's work is one of many Latin texts that survived because it was copied in the scriptorium (writing room) of Charlemagne in the early 9th century. The oldest surviving manuscript, now in the British Library, was written in Germany around 800-825 AD. It has only one of the original illustrations, a simple drawing of a wind rose.

Many copies existed during the Middle Ages, and 92 are still in public collections. However, they were not widely used, perhaps because the specialized Latin terms were hard to understand and the original illustrations were missing.

The work was "rediscovered" in 1416 by the Florentine scholar Poggio Bracciolini, who found a copy in a Swiss monastery. He shared it with other Renaissance thinkers just as interest in classical knowledge was reviving.

### Printed editions

The first printed edition was published in Rome in 1486, but it had no pictures. The first illustrated version with woodcuts was produced in Venice in 1511 by Fra Giovanni Giocondo.

The book was quickly translated into other languages. The first full and authoritative French edition was published by Claude Perrault in 1673. The first complete English translation was finished in 1791. A well-known English translation from 1914 by Professor Morris H. Morgan is available for free online at Project Gutenberg.

## Impact

The rediscovery of Vitruvius's work had a huge influence on Renaissance architects. It helped bring back Classical architecture. Architects like Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti used it to raise architecture to a scientific discipline.

One of Leonardo da Vinci's best known drawings, the _Vitruvian Man_, is based on the principles of body proportion that Vitruvius wrote about in Book III.

English architect Inigo Jones and the 16th-century Italian architect Palladio considered Vitruvius their master and guide.

### Astrolabe

The earliest evidence of a specific star projection used in a machine is in _De architectura_. It describes a water clock in Alexandria that had a rotating field of stars behind a wire frame to tell the time. Similar devices from the 1st to 3rd centuries have been found in other parts of the Roman Empire, suggesting they were fairly common.