The Pantheon : A Temple To All Gods

A Temple for All gods

All the gods of Romans where once worshipped in uniquely celestial chamber that is the Pantheon. Pantheon itself comes from Latin words pan theos which literally means "all the gods." Hadrian rebuilt his Pantheon in 118 A.D. on the site of two previous T- shaped timber and masonry pantheons, the first built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C., and the second rebuilt by Domition in 80 A.D., both lost to fire. Helped survive through the ages as a result of being consecrated Santa Maria ad Martyres in 609 A.D. by Boniface IV, the building still boasts an impressive feat of structural engineering, which indubitably kept it sturdy while the majority of Rome crumbled. Yet it is also no surprise that Emperor Phocas donated the Pantheon to the papacy, as the interior space creates a cosmic marvel uniting the heavens with the worshippers inside, an ideal condition for perhaps any religion, and unrivalled as such until Brunneleschi's cupola of the Santa Maria del Fiore, and Michelangelo's dome atop St. Peter's Basilica. Indeed the form that creates this space, particularly the dome and oculus, and their unprecedented construction

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methods, have been studied, admired, and duplicated throughout history, and just as well, the Pantheon is arguably one of the most profound buildings of all time.

Hadrian was the cousin of Trajan and consequent successor to the rule of Rome. He became a strong and confident ruler, as well as being of immense physical presence. He saw himself as a poet inspired by the divine realm and was quite fond of Hellenic culture. Along with being inspired by music and art, he saw architecture as a very important tool of an Emperor. That being, he set out to create some of the most influential structures with an iron fist, and thus to possibly compete with the deities by building for the masses, an altruism correlated to the glory he sought of the people and the gods. Yet contrarily, paid homage to the builder of the original Pantheon, copying the inscription M AGRIPPA L F COS TETRIUM FECIT, meaning, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul three times, built this." The Pantheon was one such creation of this benevolent, yet self-indulgent attitude, which was Greek influence. He saw himself in the light of the oculus the focal meeting point of the earth and the heavens above, for all to see, a creator of something so pure. His words were,

"My intentions had been that this sanctuary of All Gods should reproduce the likeness of the terrestrial globe and of the stellar sphere...The cupola...revealed the sky through a great hole at the center, showing alternately dark and blue. This temple, both open and mysteriously enclosed, was conceived as a solar quadrant. The hours would make their round on that caissoned ceiling so carefully polished by Greek artisans; the

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disk of daylight would rest suspended there like a shield of gold; rain would form its clear pool on the pavement below, prayers would rise like smoke toward that void where

we place the gods."

Perhaps he foresaw the incredible structure as one that could captivate any audience, as it still is today. However, not all the worshippers have treated this structure with the respect that it deserved and consequently some beauty has been lost. Specifically the Christians, after adopting the church, were keen to strip it of its precious bronze plating. Constans II took the gilded bronze from the dome in 663, followed by Pope Urban VIII's seventeenth century pillaging of the massive bronze doors of the portico. It seemed as though the needed to strip the splendor of the original building for their own more conventional churches of the day. The Pantheon even had additions to try to shape it into this convention, most notably the "donkey ears," or bell towers that were added on either side of the portico in the early seventeenth century, only to be later removed in 1883. Apparently they were realized not to be of fit to the uniquely constructed Pantheon.

An engineering marvel for all to see, the Pantheon has been studied throughout the ages. Hadrian's architect is not known, but the techniques employed during construction, however technical then, are understood simply enough whether through speculation or with the visual and humorously "concrete" evidence. The base of the structure is comprised of its massive foundations, a circular trench twenty- six foot wide for the drum and a square trench for the pronaos, both fifteen feet deep. The edges of this trench were then lined with heavy timbers and cast in pozzolona concrete, a

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predominately used concrete made with lime and specific volcanic ash found near Mt. Vesuvius, in Pozzuoli, Italy. This foundation ring had to be later expanded by ten feet as the underlying clay was causing differential settlement and cracks began appearing. The foundations and the lower part of the drum were to be made of the strongest and heaviest

concrete, one created with basalt. The drum sits supporting the 142-foot high dome that is comprised of twenty-foot thick walls with relieving arches set into the walls. Hollow spaces inside the opus testaceum masonry wall lighten the load on the foundations while at the same time act as a continuous arched arcade, supporting the dome in three tiers that are visible on the outside. This, in turn supports the massive dome with its central oculus, which, like the drum and foundations, was ingeniously constructed to be thicker and heavier at the base and thinnest and lightest at the top. To achieve this result many different aggregates, or fillers, were used, corresponding to the concentric steps visible on the top of the dome. On the base of the dome, travertine was used as well a roman brick. In the middle of the dome, clay tile and tufa, a volcanic dust, were used. Even emptied clay pots were used to lighten the load. At the top, around the oculus, pumice was the aggregate of choice, as it was the lightest, a sort of volcanic Styrofoam. The oculus itself is constructed to act as a compression ring, twenty- seven feet wide and only about four feet thick, pushing dome's materials outward in order to hold itself up. The ring was constructed of three rings of roman tile, bonded with concrete, and originally lipped with gilded bronze. The whole construction must have been very time consuming as the concrete had to be tamped into place, not poured like today, as well as having to be hand

mixed. Only after completely