Rodolpho Lanciani:Giano Nicio Eritreo, another eye-witness, thus speaks of the event: "Our good pontiff, Urban VIII., could not bear the idea that such a mass of metal, intended for loftier purposes, should humble itself to the office of keeping off forever the rain from the portico of the Pantheon. He raised it to worthier destinies, because it is becoming that such noble material should keep off the enemies of the Church rather than the rain. At all events, Agrippa's temple has gained more than it has lost, because Pope Urban VIII has provided it with a much better roof " (tectum multo quam antea elegantius).
Rodolpho Lanciani: ...considered by Michelangelo "disegno angelico e non umano..."
Italy Guides, haettu 21.9.2007 Modeled on great Roman architecture, like the monumental Pantheon dome, that he'd studied and redesigned as a young man; he designed an octagonal, self-supporting dome, that didn't need a centre, built from different materials: stone down below where the curve was minimum, for greater resistance, and bricks above as they were lighter.
History of Western Architecture - Classical Architecture of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman, 18.7.2007, haettu 25.9.2007 In Greek and Hellenistic Architecture (The style develop during the Hellenistic kingdoms created out of the empire conquered by Alexander the Great 356-323 BC) the column was the most important member; in Rome the column was used more decoratively. It was the development of the concrete used in conjunction with brick that made it possible the use of the great Roman domes and vaults.
David Moore: The outside height of the circular wall is 104 feet (31.7 m) which seems awesome when viewed from the door step. It is the height of about a 7-story office building. The top cornice on the wall has an overhang of about 3'-8" (1.1 m) serving as an effective rain shield for the brick facing.
The Pantheon topsightseeing.com. Viitattu 25.12.2010. (englanniksi)
uchicago.edu
penelope.uchicago.edu
Lacus Curtius Educational Resource:Pantheon According to the inscription on the frieze of the pronaos (CIL vi.896: M. Agrippa L. f. cos. tertium. fecit1) the temple was built in 27 B.C., but Cassius Dio states that it was finished in 25 (liii.27: τό τε Πάνθειον ὠνομασμένον ἐξετέλεσε· προσαγορεύεται δὲ οὒτω τάχα μὲν ὂτι πολλῶν θεῶν εἰκόνας ἐν τοῖς ἀγάλμασι, τῷ τε τοῦ Ἀρεως καὶ τῷ τῇς Ἀφροδίτης, ἔλαβεν, ὡς δὲ ἐγὼ νομίζω, ὄτι θολοειδὲς ὂν τῷ οὐρανῷ προσέοικεν, ἠβουλήθη μὲν οὗν ὁ Ἀγρίππας καὶ τὸν Αὔγουστον ἐνταῦθα ἱδρῦσαι, τήν τε τοῦ ἔργου ἐπίκλησιν αὐτῷ δοῦναι).
Lacus Curtius Educational Resource: Pantheon The Pantheon of Agrippa was burned in 80 A.D. (Cass. Dio lxvi.24.2) and restored by Domitian (Chron. 146; Hier. a. Abr. 2105; cf. perhaps 2101). Again, in the reign of Trajan, it was struck by lightning and burned (Oros. vii.12; Hier. a. Abr. 2127).
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Samuel Ball Platner (1929), haettu 21.9.2007 The building faces due north; it consists of a huge rotunda preceded by a pronaos. The former is a drum of brick-faced concrete, in which numerous brickstamps of the time of Hadrian3 (CIL XV.276, 362, 649a, 811b, c, 1106b, 1406) have been found,4 which is 6.20 metres thick; the structure of it is most complex and well thought out.
Lacus Curtius Educational Resource: Pantheon The restoration by Hadrian (Hist. Aug. Hadr. 19) carried out after 126 (AJA 1912, 421) was in fact an entirely new construction, for even the foundations of the existing building date from that time. The inscription was probably placed by Hadrian in accordance with his well-known principle in such cases.
Lacus Curtius Educational Resource:Pantheon the corner column was replaced by Urban VIII: The corner column only lacked the capital, and why it was removed by Urban VIII is not clear. The capital bears his badge (the Barberini bee) just as the other two capitals bear the Chigi star of Alexander VII. See Roma v. (1927) 471.
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome Samuel Ball Platner (1929), haettu 21.9.2007 ...the method of construction of the upper portion is somewhat uncertain (the existence of ribs cannot be proved), but is probably of horizontal courses of bricks gradually inclined inwards. Pumice stone is used in the core for the sake of increased lightness.
Rodolpho Lanciani: The original structure of Agrippa was rectangular instead of round, and faced the south instead of the north. It resembled in shape the Temple of Concord, that is to say, the facade was on one of the longer sides of the parallelogram, and not on one of the smaller. This shape is special to the Augustea, and the Pantheon belonged to this class of buildings.
