出版社：Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
其他摘要：This paper deals with the long-lasting debate about the orientation of Roman cities by combining two procedures: an analysis of a statistically significant sample of orientations of Roman settlements in the Iberian Peninsula and the results of the experimentation and re-construction of Roman surveying instruments. Specifically, the study seeks to reinforce, or reject, the hypothesis of the use of the varatio, and its possible mode of execution: a method based on the application of right-angled triangles with legs in proportion of integer numbers. The meridian line is also postulated as the generating line for each new project, including a possible procedure for obtaining it from the indications given by Vitruvius (De Architectura VI, I). The results derived from the statistical analysis show that orientations seem not to be randomly distributed but they tend to cluster around particular directions that agree with the expected values in case this geometrical technique was commonly applied.
