Table Of Content’
AUTHOR AND AUDIENCE IN VITRUVIUS
DE ARCHITECTURA
Vitruvius’Dearchitecturaistheonlyextantclassicaltextonarchitec-
ture, and its impact on Renaissance masters including Leonardo da
Vinciiswellknown.Butwhatwasthetext’spurposeinitsowntime
(ca.s)?Inthisbook,MardenFitzpatrickNicholsrevealshow
Vitruvius pitched the Greek discipline of architecture to his Roman
readers,mostofwhomwereundoubtedlylaymen.Theinaccuracyof
Vitruvius’architecturalrules,whencomparedwithsurvivingancient
buildings,hasknockedVitruviusoffhispedestal.Nicholsarguesthat
theauthorneverintendedtoprovideanaccurateviewofcontempor-
ary buildings. Instead, Vitruvius crafted his authorial persona and
remarksonarchitecturetoappealtoelites(andwould-beelites)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 land-
scape in which thehouse madethe man.
is Assistant Professor of Classics
atGeorgetownUniversity,Washington,DC.Sheworksprimarilyon
theliterature, art and culture ofancient Rome.
Editors
. , University ofMichigan
ś ,CorpusChristi College, Oxford
,University ofCambridge
, King’sCollegeLondon
TheGreekcultureoftheRomanEmpireoffersarichfieldofstudy.Extraordinary
insights can be gained into processes of multicultural contact and exchange,
politicalandideologicalconflict,andthecreativityofachanging,polyglotempire.
Duringthisperiod,manyfundamentalelementsofWesternsocietywerebeingset
in place: from the rise of Christianity, to an influential system of education, to
long-livedartisticcanons.ThisseriesisthefirsttofocusontheresponseofGreek
culture to its Roman imperial setting as a significant phenomenon in its own
right. To this end, it will publish original and innovative research in the art,
archaeology,epigraphy,history,philosophy,religionandliteratureoftheempire,
with an emphasison Greek material.
Recenttitlesin the series:
The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity toByzantium
Greece and theAugustan Cultural Revolution
. . .
Rethinking theGods: Philosophical Readings of Religion in thePost-Hellenistic
Period
Saints and Symposiasts: TheLiterature of Food and the SymposiuminGreco-
Romanand EarlyChristian Culture
ö
The SocialWorld of Intellectuals in theRomanEmpire: Sophists, Philosophers,
and Christians
Religion and Identityin Porphyry ofTyre:The Limits ofHellenism in Late
Antiquity
Syrian Identity inthe Greco-Roman World
.
TheSenseofSightinRabbinicCulture:JewishWaysofSeeinginLateAntiquity
Roman Phrygia:Culture and Society
Homer in Stone: The Tabulae Iliacae intheir Roman Context
Man and Animal inSeveran Rome:The Literary Imagination of Claudius
Aelianus
.
Reading Fiction with Lucian:Fakes,Freaks and Hyperreality
í
Greek Narratives ofthe Roman Empire underthe Severans: Cassius Dio,
Philostratus and Herodian
.
The End of Greek Athletics
Roman Festivals inthe Greek East:From theEarly Empire totheMiddle
ByzantineEra
Greek Myths inRomanArt and Culture: Imagery, Values and Identity inItaly,
BC–AD
Visual Style and Constructing Identity intheHellenistic World: Nemrud Dağ
and Commagene under Antiochos I
. BronzebustofVitruviusbyMiklosSimonattachedtoakeystoneonthe
additiontoBondHallSchoolofArchitectureattheUniversityofNotre
Dame,.(photograph:ThomasGordonSmith)
AUTHOR AND AUDIENCE
’
IN VITRUVIUS DE
ARCHITECTURA
MARDEN FITZPATRICK NICHOLS
GeorgetownUniversity
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:AuthorandaudienceinVitruvius’Dearchitectura/MardenFitzpatrickNichols,
GeorgetownUniversity,Washington,DC.
:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,.|Series:GreekcultureintheRoman
world|Revisionoftheauthor’sthesis(UniversityofCambridge,)underthetitle:Vitruvius
andtherhetoricofdisplay:wallpainting,domesticarchitectureandRomanself-fashioning.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
:|(Hardback:alk.paper)
::VitruviusPollio.Dearchitectura–Criticism,Textual.|
Authorsandreaders–Rome.|Architectureandsociety–Rome.
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