Vitruvius (Roman architectural writer, late 1st century B.C.) explains that if a city if to be properly designed, care must be taken to prevent winds racing between houses and through alleyways and making the city unpleasant for its inhabitants.
Vitruvious cites Mytilene on the island of Lesbos as an example of a city that suffers from poor planning.
There were four, main winds:
Vitruvius added four more winds to the above.
The names of the winds were often used to indicate directions.
For example, south is auster from Latin austerus "dry, harsh, sour, tart," from Greek austeros "bitter, harsh,"
Corus is a crow
Aquila the eagle
Favonius means favourable...
And so on.
When setting out a city, Vitruvius recommends laying a flat, marble slab and setting up a removable gnomon at its centre, which is known as point A...
Begin the work of recording the directions in the morning.
(and use this as a method for finding the north-south line.)
The shadow tip is marked as B.
Now draw a circle from A with a radius = A to B.
Replace the gnomon and wait until the shadow has shortened, and then grown once more until it touches the circle.
Mark a point on the circumference at an equal distance from B and C.
Draw a line that bisects the angle CAB and call it E F.
Vitruvious continues:
Streets and houses should not be laid out in the direction of the winds, they should be set at angles to them to break up the winds.
To read more...
The history of what kind of winds may arise from the directions isn't easy to decipher...The Mesopotamians seemed to regard the sky as solid, separated from the earth and possibly supported by mountains. The cosmology may not be a triple system of heaven, earth and hell as the description given in the epic of Gilgamesh shows. Link...
The name given to the east wind was kur.ra 'mountain road'.
The west wind was mar.du referring to the Amorites, who arrived from that direction.
The north wind may have meant 'straight wind'
The south wind 'shu.u.tu is described as the wind that sank Lord Adapa's boat.
Most southerly winds in Mesopotamia were calm, but a strong and violent wind would blow from the south west (the suhaili) and sink boats...
An austere wind
a bitter wind?
Vitruvious cites Mytilene on the island of Lesbos as an example of a city that suffers from poor planning.
There were four, main winds:
- Septentrio from the north.
- Solanus from the east.
- Auster from the west and...
- Favonius from the west.
Vitruvius added four more winds to the above.
- Eurus from the south-east.
- Africus from the south west.
- Corus from the north-west and
- Aquilo from the north-east.
The names of the winds were often used to indicate directions.
For example, south is auster from Latin austerus "dry, harsh, sour, tart," from Greek austeros "bitter, harsh,"
Corus is a crow
Aquila the eagle
Favonius means favourable...
And so on.
Begin the work of recording the directions in the morning.
(and use this as a method for finding the north-south line.)
The shadow tip is marked as B.
Now draw a circle from A with a radius = A to B.
Mark a point on the circumference at an equal distance from B and C.
Draw a line that bisects the angle CAB and call it E F.
Then find with the compasses a sixteenth part of the entire circumference; then center the compasses on the point E where the line to the south touches the circumference, and set off the points G and H to the right and left of E. Likewise on the north side, center the compasses on the circumference at the point F on the line to the north, and set off the points I and K to the right and left; then draw lines through the center from G to K and from H to I. Thus the space from G to H will belong to Auster and the south, and the space from I to K will be that of Septentrio. The rest of the circumference is to be divided equally into three parts on the right and three on the left, those to the east at the points L and M, those to the west at the points Wand O. Finally, intersecting lines are to be drawn from M to O and from L to N. Thus we shall have the circumference divided into eight equal spaces for the winds. The figure being finished, we shall have at the eight different divisions, beginning at the south, the letter G between Eurus and Auster, H between Auster and Africus, N between Africus and Favonius, O between Favonius and Caurus, K between Caurus and Septentrio, I between Septentrio and Aquilo, L between Aquilo and Solanus, and M between Solanus and Eurus. This done, apply a gnomon to these eight divisions and thus fix the directions of the different alleys. Vitruvius, On Architecture I, 6, 12–13 (trans. Morgan).Evans, James (1998-08-25). The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy (Kindle Locations 12397-12398). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
Streets and houses should not be laid out in the direction of the winds, they should be set at angles to them to break up the winds.
To read more...
The history of what kind of winds may arise from the directions isn't easy to decipher...The Mesopotamians seemed to regard the sky as solid, separated from the earth and possibly supported by mountains. The cosmology may not be a triple system of heaven, earth and hell as the description given in the epic of Gilgamesh shows. Link...
The west wind was mar.du referring to the Amorites, who arrived from that direction.
The north wind may have meant 'straight wind'
The south wind 'shu.u.tu is described as the wind that sank Lord Adapa's boat.
Most southerly winds in Mesopotamia were calm, but a strong and violent wind would blow from the south west (the suhaili) and sink boats...
An austere wind
a bitter wind?
Comments
Post a Comment