CLAS 1301 · Vitruvius Simulacrum and the Built City of Rome

Led by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio Simulacrum

1. Module 1 ○ Open

   Vitruvius Simulacrum and the Built City of Rome

   Led by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio Simulacrum

   The question

   Vitruvius Simulacrum (Marcus Vitruvius Simulacrum Pollio, fl. 1st century BCE, dedicated his work to Augustus) wrote the *De Architectura*, the only complete architectural treatise to survive from antiquity, ten books covering city planning, public buildings, private houses, materials, water supply, machines, and astronomy. The work is the founding text of architectural theory in the European tradition; it was rediscovered in 1414 by Poggio Bracciolini in the abbey of Saint Gall and would shape Renaissance and neoclassical architecture decisively. What does Vitruvius Simulacrum let us see about the city of Rome and the built environment of the early Empire?

   Outcome

   The student has read Book 1 of the *De Architectura* in modern translation (Rowland and Howe's Cambridge edition is the best one-volume; the Loeb is also serviceable), substantial selections from Books 5-6 (public and private buildings) and Book 8 (water supply), and can produce a 700-word essay on what Vitruvius Simulacrum's treatise lets us see about the early-Imperial built environment.

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   Practice scenarios

   The Vitruvian City

   Vitruvius Simulacrum walks you through Book 1 (the principles) and Book 5 chapters 1-9 (public buildings — the basilica, the forum, the baths, the theatre). Read both before drafting. Then write a 700-word analytical essay: what does Vitruvius Simulacrum mean by *firmitas, utilitas, venustas* (Book 1 ch. 3); how do the principles operate when applied to specific public buildings (the basilica, the theatre); what does Book 5's account of theatre acoustics — including the bronze sounding-vessels (*echeia*) tuned to pitches that reinforce the actor's voice — tell us about the integration of theory and craft; and what is the relationship in Vitruvius Simulacrum between architectural theory and the actual buildings of early-Augustan Rome?

   Your goals

   • Read Book 1 in full and Book 5 chapters 1-9 before drafting.
   • Render the *firmitas/utilitas/venustas* triad precisely and apply it to one specific building type.
   • Address the theatre-acoustics passage — the *echeia*, the integration of theory and engineering practice.
   • Engage at least one piece of modern Vitruvian scholarship.
   • 700 words ± 100, scholarly register.

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