The Ten Books on Architecture
[Greek: schêmata], at the end of this book: one designed to show the
precise quarters from which the winds arise; the other, how by turning
the directions of the rows of houses and the streets away from their
full force, we may avoid unhealthy blasts. Let A be the centre of a
plane surface, and B the point to which the shadow of the gnomon reaches
in the morning. Taking A as the centre, open the compasses to the point
B, which marks the shadow, and describe a circle. Put the gnomon back
where it was before and wait for the shadow to lessen and grow again
until in the afternoon it is equal to its length in the morning,
touching the circumference at the point C. Then from the points B and C
describe with the compasses two arcs intersecting at D. Next draw a line
from the point of intersection D through the centre of the circle to the
circumference and call it E F. This line will show where the south and
north lie.
13. Then find with the compasses a sixteenth part of the entire
circumference; then centre the compasses on the point E where the line
to the south touches the circumference, and set off the points G and H
to the right and left of E. Likewise on the north side, centre the
compasses on the circumference at the point F on the line to the north,
and set off the points I and K to the right and left; then draw lines
through the centre from G to K and from H to I. Thus the space from G to
H will belong to Auster and the south, and the space from I to K will be
that of Septentrio. The rest of the circumference is to be divided
equally into three parts on the right and three on the left, those to
the east at the points L and M, those to the west at the points N and
O. Finally, intersecting lines are to be drawn from M to O and from L
to N. Thus we shall have the circumference divided into eight equal
spaces for the winds. The figure being finished, we shall have at the
eight different divisions, beginning at the south, the letter G between
Eurus and Auster, H between Auster and Africus, N between Africus and
Favonius, O between Favonius and Caurus, K between Caurus and
Septentrio, I between Septentrio and Aquilo, L between Aquilo and
Solanus, and M between Solanus and Eurus. This done, apply a gnomon to
these eight divisions and thus fix the directions of the different
alleys.
CHAPTER VII
THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS
1. Having laid out the alleys and determined the streets, we have next
to treat of the choice of building sites for temples, the forum, and all
other public places, with a view to general convenience and utility. If
the city is on the sea, we should choose ground close to the harbour as
the place where the forum is to be built; but if inland, in the middle
of the town. For the temples, the sites for those of the gods under
whose particular protection the state is thought to rest and for
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, should be on the very highest point
commanding a view of the greater part of the city. Mercury should be in
the forum, or, like Isis and Serapis, in the emporium: Apollo and Father
Bacchus near the theatre: Hercules at the circus in communities which
have no gymnasia nor amphitheatres; Mars outside the city but at the
training ground, and so Venus, but at the harbour. It is moreover shown
by the Etruscan diviners in treatises on their science that the fanes of
Venus, Vulcan, and Mars should be situated outside the walls, in order
that the young men and married women may not become habituated in the
city to the temptations incident to the worship of Venus, and that
buildings may be free from the terror of fires through the religious
rites and sacrifices which call the power of Vulcan beyond the walls.
As for Mars, when that divinity is enshrined outside the walls, the
citizens will never take up arms against each other, and he will defend
the city from its enemies and save it from danger in war.
2. Ceres also should be outside the city in a place to which people need
never go except for the purpose of sacrifice. That place should be under
the protection of religion, purity, and good morals. Proper sites should
be set apart for the precincts of the other gods according to the nature
of the sacrifices offered to them.
The principle governing the actual construction of temples and their
symmetry I shall explain in my third and fourth books. In the second I
have thought it best to give an account of the materials used in
buildings with their good qualities and advantages, and then in the
succeeding books to describe and explain the proportions of buildings,
their arrangements, and the different forms of symmetry.
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION
1. Dinocrates, an architect who was full of confidence in his own ideas
and skill, set out from Macedonia, in the reign of Alexander, to go to
the army, being eager to win the approbation of the king. He took with
him from his country letters from relatives and friends to the principal
military men and officers of the court, in order to gain access to them
more readily. Being politely received by them, he asked to be presented
to Alexander as soon as possible. They promised, but were rather slow,
waiting for a suitable opportunity. So Dinocrates, thinking that they
were playing with him, had recourse to his own efforts. He was of very
lofty stature and pleasing countenance, finely formed, and extremely
dignified. Trusting, therefore, to these natural gifts, he undressed
himself in his inn, anointed his body with oil, set a chaplet of poplar
leaves on his head, draped his left shoulder with a lion's skin, and
holding a club in his right hand stalked forth to a place in front of
the tribunal where the king was administering justice.
2. His strange appearance made the people turn round, and this led
Alexander to look at him. In astonishment he gave orders to make way for
him to draw near, and asked who he was. "Dinocrates," quoth he, "a
Macedonian architect, who brings thee ideas and designs worthy of thy
renown. I have made a design for the shaping of Mount Athos into the
statue of a man, in whose left hand I have represented a very spacious
fortified city, and in his right a bowl to receive the water of all the
streams which are in that mountain, so that it may pour from the bowl
into the sea."
3. Alexander, delighted with the idea of his design, immediately
inquired whether there were any fields in the neighbourhood that could
maintain the city in corn. On finding that this was impossible without
transport from beyond the sea, "Dinocrates," quoth he, "I appreciate
your design as excellent in composition, and I am delighted with it, but
I apprehend that anybody who should found a city in that spot would be
censured for bad judgement. For as a newborn babe cannot be nourished
without the nurse's milk, nor conducted to the approaches that lead to
growth in life, so a city cannot thrive without fields and the fruits
thereof pouring into its walls, nor have a large population without
plenty of food, nor maintain its population without a supply of it.
Therefore, while thinking that your design is commendable, I consider
the site as not commendable; but I would have you stay with me, because
I mean to make use of your services."
4. From that time, Dinocrates did not leave the king, but followed him
into Egypt. There Alexander, observing a harbour rendered safe by
nature, an excellent centre for trade, cornfields throughout all Egypt,
and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him to build
the city of Alexandria, named after the king. This was how Dinocrates,
recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so
famous. But as for me, Emperor, nature has not given me stature, age has
marred my face, and my strength is impaired by ill health. Therefore,
since these advantages fail me, I shall win your approval, as I hope, by
the help of my knowledge and my writings.
5. In my first book, I have said what I had to say about the functions
of architecture and the scope of the art, as well as about fortified
towns and the apportionment of building sites within the fortifications.
Although it would next be in order to explain the proper proportions and
symmetry of temples and public buildings, as well as of private houses,
I thought best to postpone this until after I had treated the practical
merits of the materials out of which, when they are brought together,
buildings are constructed with due regard to the proper kind of material
for each part, and until I had shown of what natural elements those
materials are composed. But before beginning to explain their natural
properties, I will prefix the motives which originally gave rise to
buildings and the development of inventions in this field, following in
the steps of early nature and of those writers who have devoted
treatises to the origins of civilization and the investigation of
inventions. My exposition will, therefore, follow the instruction which
I have received from them.
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE DWELLING HOUSE
1. The men of old were born like the wild beasts, in woods, caves, and
groves, and lived on savage fare. As time went on, the thickly crowded
trees in a certain place, tossed by storms and winds, and rubbing their
branches against one another, caught fire, and so the inhabitants of the
place were put to flight, being terrified by the furious flame. After it
subsided, they drew near, and observing that they were very comfortable
standing before the warm fire, they put on logs and, while thus keeping
it alive, brought up other people to it, showing them by signs how much
comfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a time when
utterance of sound was purely individual, from daily habits they fixed
upon articulate words just as these had happened to come; then, from
indicating by name things in common use, the result was that in this
chance way they began to talk, and thus originated conversation with one
another.
2. Therefore it was the discovery of fire that originally gave rise to
the coming together of men, to the deliberative assembly, and to social
intercourse. And so, as they kept coming together in greater numbers
into one place, finding themselves naturally gifted beyond the other
animals in not being obliged to walk with faces to the ground, but
upright and gazing upon the splendour of the starry firmament, and also
in being able to do with ease whatever they chose with their hands and
fingers, they began in that first assembly to construct shelters. Some
made them of green boughs, others dug caves on mountain sides, and some,
in imitation of the nests of swallows and the way they built, made
places of refuge out of mud and twigs. Next, by observing the shelters
of others and adding new details to their own inceptions, they
constructed better and better kinds of huts as time went on.
3. And since they were of an imitative and teachable nature, they would
daily point out to each other the results of their building, boasting of
the novelties in it; and thus, with their natural gifts sharpened by
emulation, their standards improved daily. At first they set up forked
stakes connected by twigs and covered these walls with mud. Others made
walls of lumps of dried mud, covering them with reeds and leaves to keep
out the rain and the heat. Finding that such roofs could not stand the
rain during the storms of winter, they built them with peaks daubed with
mud, the roofs sloping and projecting so as to carry off the rain water.
4. That houses originated as I have written above, we can see for
ourselves from the buildings that are to this day constructed of like
materials by foreign tribes: for instance, in Gaul, Spain, Portugal, and