The Ten Books on Architecture, 2.1.5

Vitruvius  translated by Joseph Gwilt

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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.

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