I will prefix the motives which originally gave rise to buildings and the development of inventions in this field, following in the steps of early na… - Vitruvius

There are... many... names for winds derived from localities or from the squalls which sweep from rivers or down mountains.

These rules for symmetry were established by Hermogenes, who was also the first to devise the principal of the pseudodipteral octastyle.

Our ancestors, when about to build a town or an army post, sacrificed some of the cattle that were wont to feed on the site proposed and examined their livers. If the livers of the first victims were dark-coloured or abnormal, they sacrificed others, to see whether the fault was due to disease or their food. They never began to build defensive works in a place until after they had made many such trials and satisfied themselves that good water and food had made the liver sound and firm. ...healthfulness being their chief object.