Friday, January 9, 2009

Roaming to the Pantheon: November, 2008





Miguel de Cervantes said, “The road is always better than the inn.” While I'm not sure about always, I do think it is important to take pleasure in reaching our destinations, because we do spend a lot of time on the road.
With specific highlights marked on our map, we were free to enjoy the journeys between them. Bob Dylan was right when he sang, “Oh the streets of Rome are filled with rubble. Ancient footprints are everywhere. "





The Pantheon was said to be the site of a temple for various (or possibly all) gods of ancient religions since several hundred years B.C., but most historians put the date of construction for the first Pantheon at 27 A.D. It was burned down in 80 A.D. And rebuilt, only to have been struck by lightning and burned to the ground again in 110 A.D.
The Emperor Hadrian, who considered himself a poet inspired by Hellenic culture, rebuilt the Pantheon, this time a far more elaborate structure in the spirit of a Greek temple. His realized design includes a magnificent dome, making it the oldest domed structure in Rome.
Apparently Hadrian, who purportedly looked like a Greek god, saw himself enthroned under the dome at the center of the universe. When the great Michelangelo saw the Pantheon, which by that time was a Christian church, almost 1400 years later, he described it as "angelic and not human design."

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