Vitruvius is the author of De architectura, the only text dedicated to architecture that survives from Greek or Roman antiquity. Its title, when translated as On Architecture, can mislead: Vitruvius’ definition of architectura encompasses a wide range of subjects that extend far beyond current understandings of architecture, to include hydraulics, machines of war, and astronomy. One of the great ironies of De architectura is that while post-classical readers, from Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Palladio to Le Corbusier, have pored over the treatise and labored to realize Vitruvius’ theories in practice, there is very little evidence that Vitruvius’ precepts were widely read, let alone i…
1813 words
Citation: Nichols, Marden. "Vitruvius ". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14463, accessed 25 April 2024.]
