After providing a retrospective view on how concrete construction has come to be interpreted as a marker of Romanitas (i.e., Roman identity and self-image) in both specialist and popular discourse, the chapter looks more closely to ancient literary representations of the technology in order to explore how building techniques could become caught up in political debates about elite self-presentation. Bringing the relationship between patrons and builders to the fore, the discussion concentrates on processes of identity construction in the domestic sphere, as reflected in the writings of Cato and Vitruvius, and explore their relation to public architecture.