Pantheon

 The Pantheon was a building in Ancient Rome, constructed by the Emperor Hadrian.  It was one of many projects he commanded to beautify Rome.  Hadrian  wanted to build a temple to __all__ gods that would have a perfectly rounded dome to symbolize the perfect Roman Empire.  The original Pantheon was built in 25 B.C., because of the victory at the Battle of Actium. It was built by Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius. It was located in the center of Rome, in the Campus Martius. Agrippa’s Pantheon had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. The Pantheon we see now was begun in 118 A.D. and was completed by Hadrian, the 14th Roman emperor, about 127 A.D. The dramatic scale of it was made possible by the wealth of the empire at the time it was built. Pantheon, the Greek word, means place for all gods. Pan is “all” and Theos is “gods.” The Romans worshipped many gods, which is why Hadrian dedicated the temple to all gods. Most gods had their own temples, so the Pantheon was different.

The location of the Pantheon was so close to the Tiber River, that the ground was slightly swampy. It needed a very strong foundation to keep it from sinking in the mud. The foundation was also crucial because the dome would weigh more then 5,000 tons, which is equal to 4,000 full-grown elephants. This foundation supports all the weight of the finished building and enables the building to stand. The rotunda wall is actually 2 circular brick walls with concrete in between. The second brick wall was built 20 feet out from the first wall. There are many designs on the interior rotunda wall including columns, classical style niches, marble and stone of various colors. The niches were beautiful __and__ functional. These niches were large areas where there was no concrete, and that lightened the weight of the rotunda on the foundation. Carved marble columns were placed in front of each niche. Above the niches 2, marble cornices were built: one at the top of the wall and one in the middle. Cornices are decorative, horizontal moldings built in walls that stick outward. For the dome, they had to use a wooden mold because bricks were too heavy. In the dome there are 5 rings of coffers, which are indentations in the dome not only for decoration, but they lessen the weight of the dome by 250 tons. Since coffer molds were so difficult to make, only master carpenters could build them. The bottom of the dome is thicker than the top. No other material could have allowed the architects more freedom to build the dome as concrete did. This dome is a perfect hemisphere! If it were expanded into a full sphere, it would sit “kissing the floor” of the rotunda. The dome is 142 feet off the floor at its highest point and is 142 feet in diameter.

People call the oculus the “open eye” because it is the principal source of light; there are no windows in the rotunda. This oculus is 30 feet wide and is reinforced by a row of bricks. As the sun moves across the sky over the course of the day, the shadows in the coffers and niches are constantly shifting. Since it is always open and rain falls through, no drains in the Pantheon would make it a swimming pool after the first storm!

There is a rectangular porch on the entrance of the Pantheon. It has a triangular roof supported by 16 Corinthian columns, each are 41 feet high. The top of the roof or pediment is half as high as the dome. The Pantheon’s porch is on a raised platform and has 5 marble steps leading up to it. Veneers, thin sheets of marble or limestone, cover the porch. The Latin inscription reads Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, three times consul, built this. Hadrian had these words inscribed as a tribute to Agrippa, the builder of the original Pantheon.

After the Romans, the Pantheon suffered many raids where precious statues, valuable gold and bronze were stolen. In 663 AD, the Byzantine Emperor Constans II stole gilded bronze tiles from the roof. In medieval times it was considered a marvel and symbol of the city, yet they used it as a fort. In the Renaissance, it became the most important example of classical Roman architecture. Around the 17th century, Pope Urban VIII Barberini stripped the bronze from the portico to make Bernini’s Baldacchino in St. Peter’s. Many famous heroes are buried in the Pantheon, including King Victor Emmanuel I and Renaissance painter Raphael. Later it was a Christian Church from 609-1885. Some of the marble and the bronze doors used in Hadrian’s construction are still there.

Hadrian’s Pantheon is a good example of classical Roman architecture. It has influenced many architects who have designed based on its ideas. Thomas Jefferson built Monticello after the Pantheon, because he admired the design. Some engineering techniques used for the Pantheon, like the use of scaffolding, are still used today.

__ Works Cited __  Cowan, Henry J. __A Guide to the World’s Greatest Buildings: Masterpieces of__ __Architecture and Engineering.__ Singapore: Weldon Owen publishing, 2000. Dutemple, Lesley A. __The Pantheon.__ Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 2003. “Pantheon.” __Encyclopedia__ __Americana____.__ 2008. “Pantheon.” __World Book Online.__ 2008.