Where did vitruvius live
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Quick Info
possibly Fundi, Campania (now Italy)
Italy
Biography
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio is known almost exclusively through his famous ten volume work On Architecture. Even his name is in doubt with only Vitruvius being certain. Other than what can be deduced from that work, little is known about his life although he is mentioned in works by Pliny the Elder and Frontinus. Two different towns have been proposed by historians as his birthplace. We have suggested Fundi (now Fondi), which is about midway between Rome and Naples. However the other suggestion is Verona which is in the north of Italy, roughly west of Venice.It is clear that he must have been born into a prominent Roman family. He trained in architecture and served with the engineering corps in Caesar's army. He travelled widely with the army and we know he served in Gaul, for example he was in the fortress of Larignum in 56 BC and in Marseilles in 48 BC. He was
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Vitruvius
Vitruvius’ full name was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio; he lived and worked in the 1st Century BC and was a renowned Roman Architect, engineer and author of a renowned discourse: De architectura a book that became the standard instruction manual for generations of Roman architects.
Little biographical evidence of Vitruvius’ life survives, save that which may be gleaned from his own works, which are unfortunately rather ambiguous on the subject. Scholars have presumed that the emperor to whom De architectura was dedicated was Augustus I (although surprisingly Vitruvius himself nowhere identifies the figure). This dating means, however, that De architectura was probably devised sometime after 27 BC. Elsewhere in his writings, Vitruvius describes himself as an elderly man, and we may therefore presume that he was still working during the reign of Julius Caesar since Vitruvius himself provides an account of the basilica which he built at Fanum (now Fano).
De architectura is a work that is solidly grounded in first-hand experience but one which also i
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Biography of Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio is a Roman architect who lived in the first century BCE. He is only known because of his ten volume treatise on architecture, De architectura, which he dedicated to the emperor Augustus. It is based on the Greek principles that Vitruvius compiled and codified.
De architectura was immensely successful after his death, due to its precision, technical descriptions, and the belief that it expressed the essential elements of Roman Classicism of true beauty in balance.
From the lower middle class of municipes (citizens) and the colonies of northern and central Italy, Vitruvius was a low-ranking civil servant who belonged to the middle class of salaried technicians. He was in the team of men in the army in charge of building and maintaining the machines used for sieges and ballistics. In later years, he enjoyed the protection of Augustus’s sister, Octavia, who provided him with a pension after his retirement.
The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius published in 1552 by the famous printer of Lyon Jean de Tournes
(Carré d’Art libra
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