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Jaime
Kaminski
Sussex Archaeological Society
Barbican House
169 High Street
Lewes
BN8 1YE
The line of thought presented in this article was prompted by a practical exercise, organized by the author, at Fishbourne Roman Palace in the summer of 1999. The main aim of that work was to elucidate how the surveyors and architects of nearly two thousand years ago had laid out the ground-plan of a Roman building (which we call 'Building 3'), uncovered between 1995 and 1999. That functional aim was achieved relatively quickly and easily. However, in reading more widely on the subject of Roman architectural practice, it became evident to me that there were other layers of meaning, apart from the geometry of ground-plans and specifics of Roman units of measurement. Considering the writings of Vitruvius prompted ideas about how the builders and users of Building 3 might have employed symmetry, experienced harmony, and read different metaphors into that particular masonry building. Indeed, the very units of measurement could have been drawn from the metaphor of the human body. These concepts are presented in this article. These ideas are stimulating, and even provocative; they suggest new and different ways of looking at a whole range of Roman buildings and this article reveals a potential for further enquiry, in the hope that in due course someone will realize that potential.