Veganism and Architecture
If you've followed my YouTube channel for awhile, you'll know that I'm vegan, and have been seeking vegan-friendly resources for drawing tools and construction materials. Some time ago, I found a few ancient Roman recipes that were vegan, or easy to veganize, and discovered they were easy to cook, and actually pretty tasty and nutritious. Which lead me into a discussion today with AI (as Google Gemini) about ancient philosophers who were vegan, and how their vegan stances may be applied to architecture. Here's the answer I received, with graphics by AI (as ChatGPT):
'Pythagoras is your primary "Vegan Architect" of antiquity. While we think of him for a2 + b2 = c2, his dietary laws and his architectural influence were actually part of the same "Universal Harmony" (the Musica Universalis).
The "Vegan" Philosophers of Rome and Greece
In ancient times, "veganism" was mostly called Abstinence from Animal Food or the "Pythagorean Diet." It wasn't just a food choice; it was a structural belief in the "transmigration of souls" (metempsychosis).
| Philosopher | Dietary Stance | The Architectural/Design Connection |
| Pythagoras (6th c. BC) | Strict vegetarian (possibly vegan). Avoided wool and leather; wore linen and papyrus. | Established Proportion and Ratio (1:1, 2:3, 3:4) as the basis for temple design. To him, a building was a "frozen" musical chord. |
| Seneca (1st c. AD) | Practiced vegetarianism in his youth under the teacher Sotion. | As a Stoic, he argued for Functional Simplicity. He hated luxury and "noisy" architecture, preferring designs that followed natural logic. |
| Plutarch (1st c. AD) | Wrote On Eating Meat. Argued humans aren't biologically "designed" for meat (flat teeth, weak digestion). | He was a priest at Delphi and heavily involved in the Construction Boom of the Temple of Apollo, focusing on sacred geometry. |
| Porphyry (3rd c. AD) | Wrote On Abstinence from Animal Food. Suggested killing animals for "pleasure" (food) corrupts the soul's architecture. | Believed in Ascetic Aesthetics—that the environment should be a "purification" for the soul, much like a well-proportioned room. |
The Influence on Design: The "Music of Numbers"
For these thinkers, how you eat and how you build were both attempts to align with the Logos (Universal Reason).
Pythagorean Triples in Architecture: The discovery of 3-4-5 triangles wasn't just for math; it was used to ensure "Right Angles" in temples like the Athena Temple at Paestum. The "purity" of the diet mirrored the "purity" of the geometry.
The "Vegan" Wardrobe: Pythagoras refused to wear animal skins. This influenced the "materiality" of his schools—using linen and stone rather than leather and wool. This is a direct ancestor to modern Sustainable/Vegan Interior Design.'
Interesting stuff, and although not necessarily thoroughly fact-checked, I feel it's likely to be pretty accurate.
