The Ten Books on Architecture, 2.1.5

Vitruvius  Parallel editions

‹‹‹ Vitr. 2.1.4 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 2.1.6 ›››

Gwilt translation

5The Phrygians, who inhabit a champain country destitute of timber, choose natural hillocks, which they pierce and hollow out for their accommodation, as well as the nature of the soil will permit. These dwellings they cover with roofs constructed of logs bound together, covered with reeds and straw, and coated with a large quantity of earth. This species of covering protects the hut from the extreme heat of the summer, as well as from the piercing cold of the winter. The weeds which grow in the vicinity of pools are used in other parts of the covering of huts. Each nation, in short, has its own way of building, according to the materials afforded and the habits of the country. At Marseilles the roofs are covered with straw and earth mixed up together, instead of tiles. At Athens, even to this day, the Areopagus, an example of remote antiquity, is covered with clay; and the house of Romulus in the capitol, by its thatched roof, clearly manifests the simple manners and habits of the ancients.

Morgan translation

5On the other hand, the Phrygians, who live in an open country, have no forests and consequently lack timber. They therefore select a natural hillock, run a trench through the middle of it, dig passages, and extend the interior space as widely as the site admits. Over it they build a pyramidal roof of logs fastened together, and this they cover with reeds and brushwood, heaping up very high mounds of earth above their dwellings. Thus their fashion in houses makes their winters very warm and their summers very cool. Some construct hovels with roofs of rushes from the swamps. Among other nations, also, in some places there are huts of the same or a similar method of construction. Likewise at Marseilles we can see roofs without tiles, made of earth mixed with straw. In Athens on the Areopagus there is to this day a relic of antiquity with a mud roof. The hut of Romulus on the Capitol is a significant reminder of the fashions of old times, and likewise the thatched roofs of temples on the Citadel.