A Place To Honor Gods And Heroes

In Imperial Rome, many individual gods had temples dedicated to them. However, there were a number of pantheons--in Greek pan means for "all" and theos for "god"--that were temples for the worship of all the Roman gods.  The most famous of these temples, known today simply as the Pantheon, was begun in Rome about 27 B.C. by the statesman and general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He intended it to be a temple in classic style, but after a fire in the 2nd century A.D. the emperor Hadrian had it completely rebuilt as the present imposing circular building of elaborate brickwork.   It is noted for its massive dome, the largest Roman dome to survive intact. Until modern times the Pantheon's dome was the largest in the world, with a diameter of some 43 meters (142 feet). The dome was mostly made of concrete containing pozzuolana, a volcanic earth that, when mixed with lime, became waterproof and extremely durable. The Pantheon was conserated as a Christian church in A.D. 609. It is now dedicated to Saint Maria Rotonda. With the rise in the belief of one God, the meaning a pantheon changed. In France, the world's other remaining pantheon-- the domed, cruciformPantheon-- was originally designed in 1759 as the Church of Sainte-Genevieve in Paris. But was secularized in the 19th century and is now a  civil temple of honor for the nation's heroesand famous men.