Vitruvius was not the first to write about architecture, but all earlier texts on the subject have been lost. The earlier Greek and Roman writings were descriptions of individual buildings or dealt with specific problems, such as the proportions of temples. For the subsequent history of the architectural theory, Vitruvius’s ten books can and must be taken as a whole. The work’s patchwork character and erratic terminology cannot be ignored; however, the work’s inconsistencies are partly due to confused translations from Greek into Latin. Obscure passages from the works

are largely responsible for similar obscurities and debate in architectural theory today.

In 1490 CE Leonardo da Vinci sketched a diagram known as the Vitruvian Man. His drawing was based on the writings of Vitruvius. “In his ten-volume De archectura, Vitruvius wrote: “For if a man be placed on his back, with his hands and feet exteneded, and a pair of compasses centered at his navel, the fingers and toes of his two hand will touch the circumference of a circle described therefrom. And just as the human body yields a circular outline, so too a square figure may be found from it. For if we measure the distance of the soles of the feet to the top of the head, and then apply that measure to the outstretched arms, the breadth will be found to be the same as the height”(Book III, Chapter 1, Section2). Vitruvius determines that the body should be eight heads high.”

De arcitectura’s ten books outline Roman architecture, or what it should have been according to Vitruvius. The topics range widely, from architectural education, city planning and the d

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