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Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. 8070 BC, died after c. 15 BC), commonly known as Vitruvius, was a
Roman author, architect, and civil engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work
called De Architectura
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Not much is known about Vitruvius' life. Most information about him is known from his only surviving
work De Architectura. His first name Marcus and surname Pollio are uncertain.
By his own description, Vitruvius served as an artilleryman, the third class of arms in the military
offices. He probably served as a senior officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum (artillery
experts) and libratores who actually operated the machines.
Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect. Like other Roman architects, he was
well studied in lots of fields of architecture, eg. construction management, construction engineering,
chemical engineering, civil engineering, materials engineering, urban planning etc. Architectural
engineers consider him the first of their discipline, a specialization previously known as technical
architecture. Among other things, he is often credited as father of architectural acoustics because he
described the technique of echeas placement in theaters.
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The only building, however, that we know Vitruvius to have worked on is one he tells us
about, a basilica completed in 19 BC. It was built at Fanum Fortunae, now the modern town of Fano.
The Basilica di Fano has disappeared so completely that its very site is a matter of debate. The early
Christian practice of converting Roman basilicae (public buildings) into cathedrals implies
the basilica may be incorporated into the cathedral located in Fano.
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Vitruvius is the author of De architectura, known today as The Ten Books on Architecture, a treatise
written in Latin and Ancient Greek on architecture, dedicated to the emperor Augustus. This work is
the only surviving major book on architecture from classical antiquity. This text influenced all sorts of
artists, thinkers, and architects, among them Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, and
Michelangelo. The next major book on architecture, Alberti reformulation of Ten Books, was not written
until the 15th century.
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Vitruvius is famous for asserting in his book De architectura that a structure must exhibit the three
qualities of firmitas, utilitas, venustas that is, it must be solid, useful, beautiful. These are sometimes
termed the Vitruvian virtues or the Vitruvian Triad. According to Vitruvius, architecture is an imitation of
nature. As birds and bees built their nests, so humans constructed housing from natural materials, that
gave them shelter against the elements. When perfecting this art of building, the Greeks invented the
architectural orders. It gave them a sense of proportion, helping them understand the proportions of
the greatest work of art: the human body. This led Vitruvius in defining his Vitruvian Man: the human

body inscribed in the circle and the square which Vitruvius considered the fundamental geometric
patterns of the cosmic order.
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Vitruvius also mentioned in his book other individuals in history who he considered to be very talented.
He mentioned some architects such as Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides, Pormus and
Cossutius. He even listed other writers on architecture such as Fuficius, Terentius Varro and Publius
Septimius. Ironically, we don't know much about them possibly because the ancient Library of
Alexandria was accidentally burned in Vitruvius' time.
Vitruvius is sometimes referred to as the first architect, but it is more accurate to describe him as the
first Roman architect to have written surviving records of his field. He was more focused on stating the
existing architectural practice rather than actually building something. It should also be noted that
Vitruvius had a much wider scope than modern architects. Roman architects practised a wide variety
of disciplines; in modern terms, they could be described as being engineers, architects, landscape
architects, artists, and craftsmen combined. The word architect derives from Greek words arkhi and
tekton which mean 'master builder', which perfectly desribes the old profession.
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Machines - the books are important for their descriptions of the many different machines used for
engineering structures such as hoists, cranes and pulleys (jarbol, dizalica, kolotur), Archimedes' screw
(which is a device used for irrigating fields and draining mines) as well as war machines such as
catapults, ballistae and siege engines. Vitruvius also describes the construction of sundials and water
clocks and the use of an aeolipile/iolpajl (the first steam engine) as an experiment.
Aqueducts Vitruvius also carefully describes the construction of aqueducts and the materials needed
for their construction. Vitruvius wrote the book when many of the finest Roman aqueducts were built
and which have survived to this day, like the aqueduct at Segovia and the Pont du Gard.
Materials He describes many different construction materials used for a variety of different
structures. Concrete and lime are described very thoroughly.
Central heating He describes many innovations made in building design, most important of them
being the hypocaust, a type of central heating where hot air was channeled under the floor and inside
the walls of public baths and villas. He gives explicit instructions on how to design such buildings so
that fuel efficiency is maximized.
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Vitruvius book was rediscovered in 15 century by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini. The
first known edition of Vitruvius was made in Rome by Fra Giovanni Sulpitius. The original illustrations
had been lost and the first illustrated was published in 16th century with woodcut illustrations, based
on descriptions in the text. However, the most famous illustration remains a 15th-century one, the Da
Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
This books quickly became a major inspiration for Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical
architecture.