On Architecture, Volume II : Books 6 10

Vitruvius

ISBN 10: 0674993098 / ISBN 13: 9780674993099

Published by Harvard University Press Jan 1934, 1934

About this Item

Neuware - Vitruvius' classic work on architecture is the only book of its kind to survive antiquity. Vitruvius was himself an architect and engineer, but this is not a handbook for professionals; rather it serves readers who want to understand architecture. Book 1 discusses town planning and architecture in general; Book 2, building materials; 3 and 4, temples and the architectural orders; 5, other civic buildings; 6, houses; 7, pavements, mosaics, and wall decoration; 8, water supply; 9, measurements; 10, machines. In his preface Vitruvius takes note of the 'eminent dignity' of the public buildings Augustus constructed, which express 'the majesty of the empire.'.

Seller Inventory # 9780674993099

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Architecture, Volume II : Books 6 10
• Publisher: Harvard University Press Jan 1934
• Publication Date: 1934
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674993098
• ISBN 13: 9780674993099
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

The Renaissance man avant la lettre.

Vitruvius (Marcus V. Pollio), Roman architect and engineer, studied Greek philosophy and science and gained experience in the course of professional work. He was one of those appointed to be overseers of imperial artillery or military engines, and was architect of at least one unit of buildings for Augustus in the reconstruction of Rome. Late in life and in ill health he completed, sometime before 27 BC, De Architectura which, after its rediscovery in the fifteenth century, was influential enough to be studied by architects from the early Renaissance to recent times.

In On Architecture Vitruvius adds to the tradition of Greek theory and practice the results of his own experience. The contents of this treatise in ten books are as follows. Book 1: Requirements for an architect; town planning; design, cities, aspects; temples. 2: Materials and their treatment. Greek systems. 3: Styles. Forms of Greek temples. Ionic. 4: Styles. Corinthian, Ionic, Doric; Tuscan; altars. 5: Other public buildings (fora, basilicae, theaters, colonnades, baths, harbors). 6: Sites and planning, especially of houses. 7: Construction of pavements, roads, mosaic floors, vaults. Decoration (stucco, wall painting, colors). 8: Hydraulic engineering; water supply; aqueducts. 9: Astronomy. Greek and Roman discoveries; signs of the zodiac, planets, moon phases, constellations, astrology, gnomon, sundials. 10: Machines for war and other purposes.

About the Author

Frank Stephen Granger (1864–1936) was Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.