VITRUVIUS
THE TEN BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE
De architectura (English: On architecture, published as Ten Books on Architecture) is a treatise on
architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor
Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects. The work is one of the most important sources of
modern knowledge of Roman building methods, as well as the planning and design of structures,
both large (aqueducts, buildings, baths, harbours) and small (machines, measuring devices,
instruments). It is also the prime source of the famous story of Archimedes and his bath-time
discovery.
BOOK - 1 Town planning, Architecture or Civil engineering in general, and the qualifications
required for an architect or more modern -the civil engineer. The factors involved in siting a town
and designing its walls, explanation of the various winds.
CHAPTER I - THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT
CHAPTER II - THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER III - THE DEPARTMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER IV - THE SITE OF A CITY
CHAPTER V - THE CITY WALLS
CHAPTER VI - THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS; WITH REMARKS ON THE WINDS
CHAPTER VII - THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS
BOOK - 2 A story about Dinocrates, architect to Alexander the Great, serves as prologue.
Second prologue, on the origins of architecture; but most of the book is about materials: bricks,
sand, lime, pozzolan concrete; kinds of stone and types of stone masonry; timber.
CHAPTER I - THE ORIGIN OF THE DWELLING HOUSE
CHAPTER II - ON THE PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO THE PHYSICISTS
CHAPTER III - BRICK
CHAPTER IV - SAND
CHAPTER V - LIME
CHAPTER VI - POZZOLANA
CHAPTER VII - STONE
CHAPTER VIII - METHODS OF BUILDING WALLS
CHAPTER IX - TIMBER
CHAPTER X - HIGHLAND AND LOWLAND FIR*
*Fir- A loft tree with long curving branches, deep green leaves and soft wood
BOOK - 3 Some comments on the chance nature of fame in the arts serve as a rather
irrelevant prologue: it seems clear Vitruvius felt he had to have one. The book then proceeds to
temples, setting forth some basic definitions, then describing a canon for the construction of
temples of the Ionic order.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I - ON SYMMETRY: IN TEMPLES AND IN THE HUMAN BODY
CHAPTER II - CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPLES
CHAPTER III - THE PROPORTIONS OF INTERCOLUMNIATIONS AND OF COLUMNS
CHAPTER IV - THE FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES OF TEMPLES
CHAPTER V - PROPORTIONS OF THE BASE, CAPITALS, AND ENTABLATURE IN THE IONIC ORDER
BOOK - 4 Corinthian and Doric temples, temple doors and altars, the Tuscan order, in which
Vitruvius seems to find the primitive.
INTRODUCTION
THE ORIGINS OF THE THREE ORDERS, AND THE PROPORTIONS OF THE CORINTHIAN CAPITAL
THE ORNAMENTS OF THE ORDERS
PROPORTIONS OF DORIC TEMPLES
THE CELLA AND PRONAOS
HOW THE TEMPLE SHOULD FACE
THE DOORWAYS OF TEMPLES
TUSCAN TEMPLES
CIRCULAR TEMPLES AND OTHER VARIETIES
ALTARS
BOOK 5 In which the author warns you that architecture is highly technical, then proves it in
spades in his exposition of civil public spaces: the forum, the basilica, the theatre and its porticos,
the palaestra and the baths; harbors. Vitruvius takes particular delight in the acoustics of the theatre
about which he seems to know much, much more than he has allowed himself to tell us for fear of
boring us: it's a pity.
INTRODUCTION
THE FORUM AND BASILICA
THE TREASURY, PRISON, AND SENATE HOUSE
THE THEATRE: ITS SITE, FOUNDATIONS, AND ACOUSTICS
HARMONICS
SOUNDING VESSELS IN THE THEATRE
PLAN OF THE THEATRE
GREEK THEATRES
ACOUSTICS OF THE SITE OF A THEATRE
COLONNADES AND WALKS
BATHS
THE PALAESTRA
HARBOURS, BREAKWATERS, AND SHIPYARDS
BOOK 6 Prologue: poor but honest makes a good architect. A second sort of prologue on the
diversity of mankind from climate to climate, easing into the topic of private houses: their
construction should depend on the climate as well. Layout of the Roman house and the Greek
house; considerations of weather, the function of the rooms, the owner's social position.
INTRODUCTION
ON CLIMATE AS DETERMINING THE STYLE OF THE HOUSE
SYMMETRY, AND MODIFICATIONS IN IT TO SUIT THE SITE
PROPORTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL ROOMS
THE PROPER EXPOSURES OF THE DIFFERENT ROOMS
HOW THE ROOMS SHOULD BE SUITED TO THE STATION OF THE OWNER
THE FARMHOUSE
THE GREEK HOUSE
ON FOUNDATIONS AND SUBSTRUCTURES
BOOK 7 Long prologue on the importance of sharing knowledge, and, conversely, not
plagiarizing. True to his word, Vitruvius then shares with us his recipes for interior decoration: the
preparation and execution of wall paintings: lime, stucco, plaster, pigments.
INTRODUCTION
FLOORS
THE SLAKING OF LIME FOR STUCCO
VAULTINGS AND STUCCO WORK
ON STUCCO WORK IN DAMP PLACES, AND ON THE DECORATION OF DINING ROOMS
THE DECADENCE OF FRESCO PAINTING
MARBLE FOR USE IN STUCCO
NATURAL COLOURS
CINNABAR AND QUICKSILVER
CINNABAR (continued)
ARTIFICIAL COLOURS. BLACK
BLUE. BURNT OCHRE
WHITE LEAD, VERDIGRIS, AND ARTIFICIAL SANDARACH
PURPLE
SUBSTITUTES FOR PURPLE, YELLOW OCHRE, MALACHITE GREEN, AND INDIGO
BOOK 8 Water: how to find it, where it comes from, types of water, how to judge its quality;
how to transport it (aqueducts). A disappointing book though, since most of it is given over to
anecdotal material, cribbed from other authors, about the effects of waters from various sources.
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO FIND WATER
RAINWATER
VARIOUS PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT WATERS
TESTS OF GOOD WATER
LEVELLING AND LEVELLING INSTRUMENTS
AQUEDUCTS, WELLS, AND CISTERNS
BOOK 9 Prologue: architects deserve more honor than wrestlers. Useful technical
achievements of architects: a method of doubling a square, a method of constructing a right
triangle, Archimedes and the crown. Sundials and water-clocks, preceded by a long section on the
planets and the constellations.
INTRODUCTION
THE ZODIAC AND THE PLANETS
THE PHASES OF THE MOON
THE COURSE OF THE SUN THROUGH THE TWELVE SIGNS
THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS
THE SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS
ASTROLOGY AND WEATHER PROGNOSTICS
THE ANALEMMA AND ITS APPLICATIONS
SUNDIALS AND WATER CLOCKS
BOOK 10 Prologue: a proposal on how to deal with cost overruns. The book then details many
kinds of machines used in civil and military engineering: pulley-based machines for lifting and
transporting weights; the principle of the lever; machines that convert rotary to linear motion and
vice-versa, including the water-screw. The hydraulic organ. An odometer of sorts. Siege machines:
catapults, scorpions, balistae, tortoises and how to defend against them
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I - MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS
CHAPTER II - HOISTING MACHINES
CHAPTER III - THE ELEMENTS OF MOTION
CHAPTER IV - ENGINES FOR RAISING WATER
CHAPTER V - WATER WHEELS AND WATER MILLS
CHAPTER VI - THE WATER SCREW
CHAPTER VII - THE PUMP OF CTESIBIUS
CHAPTER VII - THE WATER ORGAN
CHAPTER IX - THE HODOMETER
CHAPTERX X - CATAPULTS OR SCORPIONES
CHAPTER XI - BALLISTAE
CHAPTER XII - THE STRINGING AND TUNING OF CATAPULTS
CHAPTER XIII - SIEGE MACHINES
CHAPTER XIV - THE TORTOISE
CHAPTER XV - HEGETOR'S TORTOISE
CHAPTER XVI - MEASURES OF DEFENCE
CHAPTER XVII - NOTE ON SCAMILLI IMPARES
