Vitruvius (Pol(l)io)
Vitruvius (Pol(l)io),a Roman architect and military engineer, in which capacity he served Caesar. He built a basilica at Fanum Fortunae in Umbria; but his fame rests chiefly on a treatise, De architectura, on architecture and engineering, compiled partly from his own experience, partly from work by Hermogenes (to whom he is heavily indebted) and other Greek authors to which his own experiences have been added, sometimes in a disjointed fashion. It is hardly a handbook for architects: rather a book for people who need to understand architecture. Perhaps its main function was place-seeking from Octavian (see Augustus), to whom it is addressed. His outlook is essentially Hellenistic, and there is a marked absence of reference to important buildings of Augustus' reign, though he knows of Roman technical developments, such as concrete construction (which he mistrusts). De...
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