4/8/2020 Pantheon - Ancient History Encyclopedia

Pantheon
by Mark Cartwright
published on 09 April 2018

The Pantheon (Latin: pantheum) is the best-preserved

building from ancient Rome and was completed in c. 125 CE
in the reign of Hadrian. Its magni cent dome is a lasting
testimony to the genius of Roman architects and as the
building stands virtually intact it o ers a unique opportunity
for the modern visitor to step back 2,000 years and
experience the glory that was Rome.  

Function & Dedication

The purpose of the building is not known for certain but the
name, porch and pediment decoration suggest a temple of some sort. However, no cult is known to
all of the gods and so the Pantheon may have been designed as a place where the emperor could
make public appearances in a setting which reminded onlookers of his divine status, equal with the
other gods of the Roman pantheon and his dei ed emperor predecessors. We are told, for example,
by Pliny, the 1st century CE Roman author, that there were once statues of Venus (wearing a pearl
once owned by Cleopatra), Mars, and Julius Caesar inside the Pantheon. 

The Pantheon was built on the exact site of two earlier Pantheon buildings, one commissioned by
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (27-25 BCE) and the second by Domitian. The rst was destroyed by re in
80 CE and the second was struck by lightning in 110 CE and again burned down. The third Pantheon
was probably begun in the reign of Trajan (98-117 CE) but not nally nished until around 125 CE
when Hadrian was emperor, who o en convened the Roman Senate there. It is this version which still
stands today in central Rome. 

Following Hadrian’s usual practice of dedicating

rebuilt buildings and monuments in honour of the
original dedicator, the Pantheon is dedicated to THE PANTHEON'S DOME IS
Marcus Agrippa and the prominent inscription on
the porch façade reads: CONCRETE & THE EXTERNAL
SURFACE WAS ORIGINALLY
M. AGRIPPA L.F. COS TERTIUM FECIT COVERED IN SHEETS OF
(Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, three- BRONZE.
time consul, made this).

Below the main inscription is a smaller one indicating the restorations carried out by Septimius
Severus and Caracalla in 202 CE and reads:

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pantheum vetustate corruptum cum omni cultu restituerunt

(with every refinement they restored the Pantheum, worn by age).

Exterior: The Porch

The whole building stands on a 1.3 metres high base which originally extended a further 7 metres in
front of the colonnade. Steps in Numidian yellow marble extended from the outer ends of this base.
The building consists of two principal parts - the porch, which is very Classical Greek in presentation,
and the circular main building which is much more Roman in style and reminiscent of the
architecture of the large Roman baths. The circular building is built using brick and concrete but was
originally faced with white marble stucco to match the porch in appearance. The dome is concrete
with the external surface originally covered in sheets of bronze but these were removed by Constans
II in 663 CE.

The porch measures 33.1 x 13.6 metres and presents a front

colonnade of eight Corinthian columns 11.8 metres high. The
monolithic column sha s are in Mons Claudianus and Aswan
grey granite with the bases and capitals in white Pentelic marble.
The pediment above the columns is now empty but drill holes
suggest there was originally an emblem of some sort, possibly
an eagle or wreath which would have been in gilded bronze and
symbolised Jupiter. The porch was faced with white Pentelic
marble and is decorated with reliefs showing objects used in
religious sacri ces (such as dishes, boxes and axes), garlands and
candelabras. The interior of the porch measures 34 x 20 metres
and has four rose-pink columns creating three aisles. The
pavement is restored but re ects the original design with grey Pantheon Front, Rome
granite rectangles and circles in white marble. The interior of by Wknight94 (GNU FDL)
the porch was also panelled with marble but this has since been
lost, revealing the brickwork.

Interior: the dome

The Pantheon may well be the rst building from AT THE VERY TOP OF THE
Classical architecture where the interior is DOME IS AN OPENING TO
deliberately made to outshine the exterior. The THE SKY (OCULUS) WHICH IS
circular part of the building or rotunda was
entranced via two bronze doors measuring 12 x 7.5 8.8 METRES IN DIAMETER.
metres (those of today are ancient but not original).
The rotunda measures 43.2 metres in diameter
which is exactly the maximum height of the dome, itself a perfect hemisphere. At the very top of the
dome is an opening to the sky (oculus) which is 8.8 metres in diameter and has a decorative bronze
sheet frieze. The dome is made from a light tufa and scoria (a type of pumice) mix of concrete
(caementa) and its interior is further lightened by ve rings of 28 co ers which reduce in size as they
rise towards the centre of the dome. These may have been originally covered in bronze sheets.

The wall of the rotunda is 6 metres thick and has seven alcoves which are alternatively semi-circular
(3 alcoves) and rectangular (4 alcoves). The alcove opposite the door is the most impressive and
reaches the ceiling. It has a decorative red porphyry frieze and cornice and is anked by two
Corinthian marble columns of Phrygian purple. Each of the other alcoves has two marble columns in
Phrygian purple (semi-circular) or Numidian yellow (rectangular). Each alcove also had three niches
for statues and a small window with another seven windows placed around the rotunda walls. The

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pavement is the original and consists of a square pattern using

grey granite, red porphyry, Numidian yellow and Phrygian
purple marble.

Later History
The Pantheon, like all ancient monuments, has su ered a
chequered history. Nevertheless, the building has survived
remarkably well, probably because relatively early in its history
it was converted into the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs in
608 CE. In 1270 CE a bell tower was added to the porch roof and
later removed. Also, at some time in the Middle Ages the le Hole in the Top of the Pantheon
side of the porch was damaged which necessitated the by Stephen Campbell (Public Domain)
replacement of three columns. The rst came from Domitian’s villa at Castelgandolfo and was added
in 1626 CE. The other two columns came from the Baths of Nero and were added in 1666 CE.
However, these additions were rose-pink in colour whilst originally the front eight columns of the
porch were all grey and only the internal four were pink Aswan. Also in 1626 CE Pope Urban VIII
removed all of the bronze girders from the porch roof and recast the metal into 80 canons for the
city’s Castel Sant’Angelo. The presence of these girders suggests that the porch roof originally had
heavy marble tiles.

Despite these changes the Pantheon is one of the best preserved ancient monuments in the world
and it still has an important function and status today as within it are the tombs of the Italian
monarchy from 1870-1946 CE and another notable tomb is that of Raphael (1483-1520 CE).

Henig, M. A Handbook of Roman Art. Cornell Univ Pr, 1983.

Hornblower, S. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, USA, 2012.
Oleson, J.P. The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford University Press,
USA, 2009.
Summerson, J. The Classical Language of Architecture. The MIT Press, 1966.
Wheeler, M. Roman Art and Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 1985.
Bagnall, R.S. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012

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Mark Cartwright
Mark is a history writer based in Italy. His special interests include pottery, architecture, world
mythology and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share in common. He holds an MA in
Political Philosophy and is the Publishing Director at AHE.

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APA Style
Cartwright, M. (2018, April 09). Pantheon. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.ancient.eu/Pantheon/

Chicago Style
Cartwright, Mark. "Pantheon." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 09, 2018.
https://www.ancient.eu/Pantheon/.

MLA Style
Cartwright, Mark. "Pantheon." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 09 Apr 2018. Web.
08 Apr 2020.

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