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  3. Author and Audience in Vitruvius' De architectura
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      16 November 2017
      26 October 2017
      ISBN:
      9780511758591
      9781107003125
      9781108969253
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511758591
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.56kg, 256 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.527kg, 266 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Ancient History, Classical Studies, Classical Studies (General), Classical Art and Architecture
      Series:
      Greek Culture in the Roman World
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    Subjects:
    Ancient History, Classical Studies, Classical Studies (General), Classical Art and Architecture
    Series:
    Greek Culture in the Roman World
    Information

    Book description

    Vitruvius' De architectura is the only extant classical text on architecture, and its impact on Renaissance masters including Leonardo da Vinci is well-known. But what was the text's purpose in its own time (ca. 20s BCE)? In this book, Marden Fitzpatrick Nichols reveals how Vitruvius pitched the Greek discipline of architecture to his Roman readers, most of whom were undoubtedly laymen. The inaccuracy of Vitruvius' architectural rules, when compared with surviving ancient buildings, has knocked Vitruvius off his pedestal. Nichols argues that the author never intended to provide an accurate view of contemporary buildings. Instead, Vitruvius crafted his authorial persona and remarks on architecture to appeal to elites (and would-be elites) eager to secure their positions within an expanding empire. In this major new analysis of De architectura from archaeological and literary perspectives, Vitruvius emerges as a knowing critic of a social landscape in which the house made the man.

    Reviews

    'Nichols has produced an exceptional book that will inevitably shape the scholarly conversation about Vitruvius the author for some time to come. That it is a book of such high quality in so many respects - including production - is fortunate indeed.'

    John Matthew Oksanish Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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