Vitruvius: 70-25 b.c.

Vitruvius Pollio is the author of a remarkable book on the art of Architecture, De Architectura, which was published probably in 28 B.C., and was for the Romans and much later for the world of the classical Renaissance, the master treatise on the art of building. But it was far more than that, it ranges in its ten books over everything of interest and importance to the building trades, from the mixing of mortar from proper materials, to the acoustics in a stone threaten, and even to the art work which as fresco style was used to decorate gentlefolks' villas.

There is little that Vitruvius did not touch on, one way or another. Vitruvius's writings have been studied ever since the Renaissance as a thesaurus of the art of classical Roman architecture. It's in Vitruvius that we first see the classical orders of architecture, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. His books had a huge influence on the West since l500, and only well into the 20th century did its influence start to break down with the new ideas from the BauHaus and modernism, along with the use of steel as the primary building material. If you see buildings with Roman imitation columns in front, that is a sign that Vitruvius has been there.

Classicists tend to be literary snobs, and remark that his writing "has no literary merit...". But his style is one of the few remaining examples of how Romans actually wrote down their information, how they documented their extensive knowledge in a dozen areas from construction of building, to medicine, to law. The subjects of Vitruvius Ten Books, using modern terminology, are:

Landscape Architecture
Construction Materials
Temples (Part 1)
Temples (Part 2)
Public places: square, meeting hall, theatre, park, gymnasium, harbour
Private dwellings
Finishes and colours
Water supply
Sundials and clocks
Mechanical engineering

Vitruvius is excellent reading for two reasons. First he is easy to read, no complex sentences, no arty separation of noun from adjective. Second, he has content, something often lacking in the later writers like Statius and the imperial poets. What he writes can be seen in the remains of Roman buildings like the Pantheon, in the wall frescos, in the aqueducts. There is something respectable in the writing of a man who was an Architect AND a builder, who knew how mortar and bricks go together, in short a man who knew what he was talking about. He's mandatory for anyone seeking meaning in Architecture.