The Ten Books on Architecture first became known to a

first became known to a wide public

books on occurrences

for most surviving 18th-century copies lack certain rare plates

shortening

now sound more like legend than history

The Ten Books on Architecture first became known to aMarcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer flourishing in the first century B. C., was the author of the oldest and most influential work on architecture in existence. For hundreds of years, the specific instructions he gave in his "Ten Books on Architecture" were followed faithfully, and major buildings in all parts of the world reveal the widespread influence of his precepts. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he was "the chief