The Pantheon Research Paper
The Pantheon
The Pantheon is one of the oldest Roman buildings that has been in continuous use for almost 20 centuries. It was built during a tumultuous time in Ancient Rome. The Empire was expanding rapidly and was constantly at war with its neighbors. Internally, civil war was rampant as legions of soldiers had grown more loyal to their generals than the Roman Senate in farther parts of the empire. Rulers tried different way to calm the feelings of the war-tired Romans and bring unity to the land. The Pantheon was one of these attempts.
The idea was to create a temple dedicated to all Roman Gods. It was named by combing the Greek words “Pan” translating to ‘all’ or ‘involving everything’ and “Theos” meaning God. In this temple each god was equal and was furnished with a similar space in temple. Alters to individual gods were set up around the interior drum of the building. The Pantheon allowed the Roman citizens to come in to the building and worship. This was a change from the traditional Roman religious sites, such as the Parthenon, where the …show more content…
The building is made mostly of concrete, and their skill allowed them to create the dome of concrete as well. To lessen the weight of the dome baring down on the building there were a number of different techniques used. First and most obvious is the oculus, the empty space in the dome measures almost twenty feet in diameter. The dome itself is made of different composites of concrete, with the lightest being used toward the top. The wall of the dome also decreases in thickness as it rises and the interior of the dome has a series of coffers. The coffers provide beauty and function. They draw the eyes up towards the oculus and take away some of the weight of the dome. The romans also incorporated series of arches within the rotunda and along the outside walls that helped redistribute the weight of the massive
The Pantheon is one of the oldest Roman buildings that has been in continuous use for almost 20 centuries. It was built during a tumultuous time in Ancient Rome. The Empire was expanding rapidly and was constantly at war with its neighbors. Internally, civil war was rampant as legions of soldiers had grown more loyal to their generals than the Roman Senate in farther parts of the empire. Rulers tried different way to calm the feelings of the war-tired Romans and bring unity to the land. The Pantheon was one of these attempts.
The idea was to create a temple dedicated to all Roman Gods. It was named by combing the Greek words “Pan” translating to ‘all’ or ‘involving everything’ and “Theos” meaning God. In this temple each god was equal and was furnished with a similar space in temple. Alters to individual gods were set up around the interior drum of the building. The Pantheon allowed the Roman citizens to come in to the building and worship. This was a change from the traditional Roman religious sites, such as the Parthenon, where the …show more content…
The building is made mostly of concrete, and their skill allowed them to create the dome of concrete as well. To lessen the weight of the dome baring down on the building there were a number of different techniques used. First and most obvious is the oculus, the empty space in the dome measures almost twenty feet in diameter. The dome itself is made of different composites of concrete, with the lightest being used toward the top. The wall of the dome also decreases in thickness as it rises and the interior of the dome has a series of coffers. The coffers provide beauty and function. They draw the eyes up towards the oculus and take away some of the weight of the dome. The romans also incorporated series of arches within the rotunda and along the outside walls that helped redistribute the weight of the massive