![]() The concrete used at the top of the dome is made mostly of basalt and has many air spaces, making it much lighter than the tufa-rich concrete used toward the base of the dome. The Romans intelligently designed the top of the dome to be less dense than the bottom which put less stress on the building and allowed it to stand for nearly 2,000 years. In Roman times, they didn’t have steel so the dome is pure, unreinforced concrete and stretches a remarkable 43.3 meters in diameter. Concrete, the buildin g material, does not have a very high tolerance for stress so is reinforced with steel in m oder n buildings. The dome itself is a marvel of engineering. It resulted in a massive structure with the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Although little is known about the architect or the actual construction of the Pantheon (Hadrian himself may have designed it), the building process is thought to have been started in about 120 AD. Regardless of the reason, Hadrian thus commissioned one of th e most iconic edifices in history. Maybe Hadrian took the lightning as a threatening si gn from the gods, saying that if he were to rebuild it, it had better be completely different from the pre vious ones.įigure 1: Agrippa’s Pant heon (gray) superimp o sed with Hadrian’s (white) Agrippa’s Pantheon was rebuilt under Domitian, only to p romptly b e struck by lightning and burn down again during Trajan’s reign. His Pantheon was in the same spot as the one we kno w today but was much sm aller and rectangular, bearing no resemblance to what we see now. Marcus Agrippa (the son-in-law of Augustus) had originally built the first version of the Pantheon in about 25 BC but it burned down in 80 AD. Perhaps he wanted to appease the gods who had “destroyed” the previous two Pa ntheons. Perhaps he just wanted something daunting th at he could govern the world from. What better way to do this than to construct a very large and imposing monument? Hadrian did initiate a grand building plan soon after he became emperor and the Pantheon was a part of that plan. So perhaps he did have a reason to undertake such an impressive building project-he needed to regain the respect and acceptance of both the Senat e and the people of Rome. And, after being named e mperor in 117 AD, he didn’t return to Rome immediately to assume his position but rather stayed in Syria for a year, raising further questions for the Roman population. Records indicate that they were on good terms, but rumors still circulated amongst the Romans. Hadrian was a skilled orator an d would often write speeches for Trajan, so it’s known that they worked together. Some said he rose to power through manipulation of Trajan’s wife. Some say he faked his adoption by the previous emperor, Trajan, after Tr ajan had already expired. Hadrian had been named emperor under more tha n questionable circumstances. But the question remains-did the Emperor Hadrian have a reason to build something so grand and imposing, something so unnecessarily out of the ordina ry? Was it truly “non-useful” architecture? As Meeks says, it is undoubtedly a great monument. "The Pantheon the first great monument of non-useful architecture” (Meeks, 135).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |