The Pantheon: From Antiquity to the Present Read online

  19 Howard Saalman, “The Pantheon Coffers: Pattern and Number,” Architectura 2, 1988, pp. 121–122; Martines 1989; William C. Loerke, “A Rereading of the Interior Elevation of Hadrian’s Rotunda,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 49, 1990, pp. 22–43. See also K. Williams, Italian Pavements: Patterns in Space, Houston 1997, pp. 4–9; Sperling 1999. For a new interpretation of the design of the coffers in terms of perspective, see M. T. Bartoli, “Scaenographia vitruviana: il disegno delle volte a lacunari tra rappresentazione e costruzione,” Disegnare idee immagini 9/10, 1994, pp. 51–54.

  20 M. L. D’Ooge, Nicomachus of Gerasa: Introduction to Arithmetic, New York 1926; J. Bertier, Nicomaque de Gérase, Introduction arithmétique, Paris 1978; W. Haase, Untersuchungen zu Nikomachos von Gerasa, Ph.D. diss., University of Tübingen 1982.

  21 Nicomaque de Gérase, 1.3.6. See Martines 1989.

  22 Wilson Jones 2000, pp. 193–196; Martines 1989, p. 8.

  23 Wilson Jones 2000, pp. 182–196. For contrasting interpretations at times, see F. Esposito and A. Michetti, “I criteri di dimensionamento degli organismi a cupola presso i romani, III,” Materiali e Strutture. Problemi di conservazione 2, 1996, pp. 61–84; Sperling 1999.

  24 V. Hoffmann, ed., Der geometrische Entwurf der Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Bilder einer Ausstellung, Bern 2005.

  25 Procopius of Caesarea, De aedificiis, 1.1.29 (On Buildings, trans. H. B. Dewing and G. Downey, Cambridge 1971, p. 17).

  26 Adam Ziolkowski, s.v.“Pantheon,” in E. M. Steinby, ed., Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, vols. 1–5, Rome 1995–1999; vol. 4, Rome 1999, pp. 58–59.

  27 Luca Beltrami, Il Pantheon rivendicato ad Adriano 117–138 d.C., Milan 1929, pp. 35–37.

  28 William L. MacDonald, The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny, London 1976, p. 33.

  29 MacDonald 1976. Diameter of oculus from Pelletti 1989.

  30 For the ratio of span to wall thickness, see S. Huerta, Arcos, bóvedas y cúpulas. Geometria y equilibrio en el cálculo tradicional de estructuras de fábrica, Madrid 2004, p. 3; Janet DeLaine, The Baths of Caracalla in Rome: A Study in the Design, Construction, and Economics of Large-Scale Building Projects in Imperial Rome (Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supplement 25), Portsmouth, RI, 1997, pp. 56–57; Wilson Jones 2000, p. 82; Lynne Lancaster, Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome: Innovation in Context, Cambridge 2005, pp. 138–148. Dome span from Pelletteri 1989, p. 12.

  31 C. Hülsen, Il libro di Giuliano da Sangallo: codice Vaticano Barberiniano latino 4424, Leipzig 1910, repr. Vatican City 1984, fol.13; cf. S. Borsi, Giuliano da Sangallo. I disegni di architettura e dell’antico, Rome 1985, pp. 94–95.

  32 Sebastiano Serlio, Il Terzo libro dell’architettura, Venice 1540, p. 2v.

  33 Ziolkowski 1999, p. 59.

  34 Giangiacomo Martines, “La struttura della Colonna Traiana: un’esercitazione di meccanica alessandrina,” Prospettiva 32, 1983, pp. 60–71; Martines, “L’architettura,” Autour de la colonne Aurélienne. Geste et image sur la colonne de Marc Aurèle à Rome, ed. J. Scheid and V. Huet, Paris 2000, pp. 19–88.

  35 H. von Hesberg and S. Panciera, Das Mausoleum des Augustus. Der Bau und seine Inschriften, Munich 1994; G. Ortolani, “Ipotesi sulla struttura architettonica originaria del Mausoleo di Augusto,” Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 105, 2004, 197–222.

  36 A. M. Colini, Storia e topografia del Celio nell’antichità (Memorie dell’Accademia Pontificia 3), Vatican City 1944.

  37 C. F. Giuliani, Tibur I, Rome 1970; C. F. Giuliani and P. Verduchi, “Villa Adriana,” Quaderni dell’Istituto di Topografia Antica della Università di Roma 8, 1975; C. F. Giuliani, “Volte e cupole a doppia calotta,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 82, 1975, pp. 329–342; William L. MacDonald and John Pinto, Hadrian’s Villa and Its Legacy, New Haven 1995. See also Chapter Five in this volume.

  38 G. Lugli, La tecnica edilizia romana, Rome 1957; C. F. Giuliani, L’edilizia nell’antichità, 1990; R. Taylor, Roman Builders, Cambridge 2003; Lancaster 2005. Opus testaceum normally refers to a construction by fired bricks; testa in Latin is an object made from clay and baked in an oven. Instead, opus latericium refers to a construction made of unfired bricks, which are dried or sunbaked, see Lugli 1957; G. Martines, “Mattoni romani da cortina,” in G. Carbonara, ed., Trattato di restauro architettonico, Turin 1996, vol. 3, pp. 213–221. For illustrations, see Chapter Five in this volume.

  39 Giangiacomo Martines, “Macchine da cantiere per il sollevamento dei pesi, nell’antichità, nel Medioevo, nei secoli XV e XVI,” Annali di architettura 10/11, 1998–1999, pp. 261–275.

  40 The sizes of bipedales and sesquipedales that make up the arches on the Pantheon’s drum were checked with a laser system in 2005 by the architects Benedetto Brattoli and Marco Brunori, whom I gratefully thank for their help.

  41 The stairs between the portico and the rotunda give access to a pair of semicircular chambers on the third level, corresponding to the second story of the rotunda (see Chapter Seven). The other semicircular chambers at this level are presumed to be the same.

  42 Susanna Pasquali, Il Pantheon: architettura e antiquaria nel Settecento a Roma, Modena 1996.

  43 Francesco Piranesi, Seconda parte de’ templij antichi che contiene il celebre Pantheon, Rome 1790, Plate XXVIII. The system of arches and ribs supposedly embedded in the dome shown in the bottom left of the plate was redrawn by Auguste Choisy (L’art de bâtir chez les Romains, Paris 1873, Fig. III).

  44 The two brickstamps were found during works to the ancient windows of the attic. After their discovery, the brickstamps were sold to antique dealers; see Pasquali 1996a, p. 128. The first brickstamp (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, XV, no. 276), transcribed incorrectly by Piranesi, reads “Rosciani Domit(ii) Agathob(uli).” The second is CIL XV no. 811b.

  45 Lancaster 2005, pp. 97–101.

  46 Vitruvius 6.8.3.

  47 Procopius, 1.1.69–71. See also Robert Ousterhout, Master Builders of Byzantium, Princeton 1999.

  48 Martines 1996, p. 228; A. Giuffré and G. Martines, “Domus Tiberiana: dissesti antichi e provvedimenti nuovi,” Il Palatino area sacra Sud-Ovest e Domus Tiberiana, ed. C. Giavarini, Rome 1998, pp. 409–426. In 1858, the architect Francesco Fontana had new bipedales made just for the Pantheon’s restoration; see P. d’Orsi, “Pantheon, Portico degli Dei Consenti, Colosseo. Tre monumenti antichi restaurati a metà Ottocento,” Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte 52, 1994, pp. 72–77.

  49 DeLaine 1997, p. 164; Lancaster 2005, p. 98. C F. Giuliani 1990, p. 83; Lynne Lancaster, “Building Trajan’s Markets 2: The Construction Process,” American Journal of Archaeology 104, 2000, pp. 755–785; Giangiacomo Martines, “La struttura del Pantheon velut regionem fornicatam,” Quaderni dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Architettura 41, 2004, pp. 3–16.

  50 Lancaster 2005, pp. 86–87. On the phases of execution of a relieving arch, see R. Volpe, “Un antico giornale di cantiere delle terme di Traiano,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 109, 2002, pp. 377–394. Cf. E. Bianchi, “Le nervature nelle volte massive di età romana,” Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 101, 2000, pp. 105–162.

  51 G. Croci, The Conservation and Structural Restoration of Architectural Heritage, Boston 1998, p. 125. According to Croci 1998, p. 211, and G. Croci, Conservazione e restauro strutturale dei beni architettonici, Turin 2001, p. 461, compression vertical stresses at the springing of the dome are less than 0.5 MPa while tensile annular stresses are less than 0.05 MPa (MPa stands for the Mega Pascal, a unit that corresponds to 10 Kg/cm2). According to R. Mark, “Reinterpreting Ancient Roman Structure,” American Scientist 75, 1987, p. 146, the maximum levels of compression stress could rise to about 0.3–0.6 MPa around the wall openings of the drum. According to Kjeld De Fine Licht, The Rotunda in Rome: A Study of Hadrian’s Pantheon, Copenhagen 1968, p. 92, the pressure on the top of the foundation is 0.45 MPa and on the ground 0.52
MPa. See also G. Croci, M. Cerone, and A. Viskovic, “Analysis from an Historical and Structural Point of View of the Domes of Pantheon, Hagia Sophia and St Peter,” Studies in Ancient Structures, ed. G. Özsen, Istanbul 1997, pp. 295–304.

  52 Figures 4.6a and 4.6b were created for the author by architect Roberta Zaccara, to whom I am most grateful, on the basis of Pelletti 1989, Fig.7, and Wilson Jones 2000, Fig. 9.21a. The idea for Figure 4.6a I owe to the architect Hyppolita D’Ayala Valva, whom I thank for showing me drawings from her degree thesis.

  53 Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum libri, 16.10.14, fourth century AD (trans. J. C. Rolfe, Cambridge 1956).

  54 William L. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire, vol. 1: An Introductory Study, London 1965, 2nd ed. rev. New Haven 1982, p. 109.

  55 Martines 1998–1999. The Mechanics has reached us in its entirety only through copies made by Islamic writers, and it only became accessible after the late nineteenth-century French translation by Baron Carra de Vaux of 1893.

  56 M. Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages, Madison 1959.

  57 Archimedes repr. 2004, trans. Netz, p. 290. See also G. Downey, “Byzantine Architects: Their Training and Methods,” Byzantion 18, 1946–1948, pp. 99–118; A. Cameron, “Isidore of Miletus,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 30, 1990, pp. 103–127. Probably we can see other clues of Hero’s On Vaulting in Hero’s Stereometrica, for which see Heronis Alexandrini Opera quae supersunt omnia, vol. V: Heronis quae feruntur et de mensuris, ed. J. L. Heiberg, Leipzig 1914 (repr. Stuttgart 1976), pp. 105–119; E. M. Bruins, Codex Constantinopolitanus Palatii Veteris N.1, Leiden 1964, pp. 139–147. For a synthesis, see Ousterhout 1999, pp. 70–76. See also Giangiorgio Martines, “Isidore’s Compass. A Scholium on Hero’s Treatise on Vaulting,” Nuncius 29, 2014, pp. 279–311.

  58 R. Mark and P. Hutchinson, “The Structure of the Roman Pantheon,” Art Bulletin 78, 1986, pp. 24–34; Mark 1987.

  59 Guglielmo De Angelis d’Ossat, “La forma e la costruzione delle cupole nell’architettura romana,” Atti del III Congresso Nazionale di Storia dell’Architettura, Rome 1938, pp. 223–250; repr. in Realtà dell’architettura. Apporti alla sua storia 1933–1978: Guglielmo De Angelis d’Ossat, ed. L. Marcucci et al., Rome 1982, pp. 53–77. De Angelis d’Ossat dates the construction of the Temple of Diana to the time of Alexander Severus (222–235 BC). M. Borriello and A. D’Ambrosio, “Baiae-Misenum,” Forma Italiae Regio I, p. 14, Florence 1979; S. De Caro and A. Greco, Campania, Bari 1981; Jean-Pierre Adam, La construction romaine. Matériaux et techniques, Paris 1984; Friedrich Rakob, “Römische Kuppelbauten in Baiae. Die Gewölbeprofile,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Römische Abteilung 95, 1988, pp. 257–301.

  60 Laura Fabbrini, s.v. “Domus Aurea: il palazzo sull’Esquilino,” in Steinby 1995–1999, vol. 2, 1996, pp. 56–63; H. Prückner and S. Storz, “Beobachtungen im Oktagon der Domus Aurea,” Mitteilungen Deutschen Archãologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 81, 1974, pp. 323–339; Larry F. Ball, The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architecture Revolution, Cambridge 2003, pp. 207–218.

  61 G. Giovannoni, “La cupola della Domus Aurea neroniana,” Atti del Congresso Nazionale di Storia dell’Architettura, Rome 1936, pp. 3–6; Ball 2003, pp. 207–218; Lancaster 2005, pp. 42–43. The three-dimensional model reproduced here was created for the author by Filippo M. Martines, from his original survey, in 2006.

  62 Suetonius, Nero 31. See David Hemsoll, “The Architecture of Nero’s Golden House,” Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Roman Empire, ed. M. Henig, Oxford 1990, pp. 10–36; Ball 2003, p. 208, p. 218 and fig. 79; Lancaster 2005, pp. 42–43; Giorgio Rocco, “Alcune osservazioni sul valore architettonici dell’antica decorazione parietale: la Domus Aurea di Nerone,” Palladio 1, June 1988, pp. 121–134. Further information is emerging from the ongoing restoration works on the Octagonal Hall under the direction of Cinzia Conti of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma.

  63 Tacitus, Annales, 15.42 (The Histories and the Annals, trans. Clifford Moore and John Jackson, repr. London 1956, p. 279).

  64 Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 35.65.

  65 Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer, “Apollodorus von Damaskus – der Architekt des Pantheon,” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 90, 1975, pp. 316–347. Heinz-Otto Lamprecht, Opus Caementitium. Bautechnik der Römer, Düsseldorf 1985, p. 175; Martines 1989; Wilson Jones 2000, pp. 192–193; Alessandro Viscogliosi, “Il Pantheon e Apollodoro di Damasco,” Tra Damasco e Roma: L’architettura di Apollodoro nella cultura classica, ed. Festa Farina et al., Rome 2001, pp. 156–161.

  66 MacDonald 1965, 2nd ed. rev. 1982, pp. 108–109.

  67 J. Durm, Die Baukunst der Etrusker. Die Baukunst der Römer, Stuttgart 1905; Bianchi 2000; Lancaster 2005, pp. 86–112.

  68 F. Lepper and S. Frere, Trajan’s Column, a New Edition of the Cichorius Plates, Gloucester 1988; S. Settis, A. La Regina, G. Agosti, and V. Farinella, La Colonna Traiana, Turin 1988; S. Maffei, s.v. “Forum Traiani: Columna,” in Steinby 1995–1999, vol. 2, Rome 1996, pp. 356–359; Martines 2000b, pp. 19–88; Martines, ed., Colonna Traiana. Corpus dei disegni 1981–2001, Rome 2001.

  69 Dio Cassius, 68.13; G. G. Tocilescu, Fouilles et recherches archéologiques en Roumanie, Bucarest 1900, pp. 140–141; D. Scagliarini Corlàita, “Per un catalogo delle opere di Apollodoro di Damasco, architetto di Traiani,” Ocnus – Quaderni della Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia 1, 1993, pp. 185–193; A. S. Stefan, Le guerres daciques de Domitien et de Trajan. Architecture militare, topographie, images et histoire, Rome 2005, pp. 641–642. See also Chapter Seven in this volume.

  70 Martines 2000b.

  71 Apollodoros, “Poliorketica,” 143.6–145.6, in Griechische Poliorketiker, ed. Rudolf Schneider, Berlin 1908, pp. 14–15; G. Commare, “La Poliorcetica di Apollodoro: traduzione,” L’arte dell’assedio di Apollodoro di Damasco, ed. Adriano La Regina, Rome 1999, pp. 51–77; Martines 2001, pp. 20–30.

  72 The height of Trajan’s Column from the bottom to the top of the original marble structure is 38.57 meters; see Martines 2000b, p. 75, Plate 1. The ancient statue of the emperor is missing: cf. Martines 2000b, pp. 64–68; Wilson Jones 2000, Chap. 8.

  73 In 1929–1934, Alberto Terenzio directed an important restoration of the entire monument, with direct observation of the extrados under the lead roof, which revealed the layer of opus signinum for waterproofing. In ancient times, the dome was further lined with bronze and perhaps gilded tiles, but these were removed by Costans II in 663 and then taken by Saracens; see P. Tomei, “Le vicende del rivestimento della cupola del Pantheon,” Bollettino d’arte 32, 1938, pp. 31–39; Licht, 1968, p. 136. All that remains of the bronze are the plates forming the ring round the oculus, which are certainly from Hadrian’s time. Furthemore, the dome’s lowest step-ring still has 34 marble tiles in situ, see Lucos Cozza, “Le tegole di marmo del Pantheon,” Città e architettura nella Roma imperiale: atti del seminario del 27 ottobre 1981 nel 25˚ anniversario del Accademia di Danimarca, Odense 1983, pp. 109–118.

  74 C. L. Frommel and N. Adams, eds., The Architectural Drawings of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and his Circle, vol. 2, New York 2000, pp. 90–91.

  75 Luca Beltrami, Il Pantheon: La struttura organica della cupola e del sottostante tamburo, le fondazioni della rotonda, dell’ avancorpo, e del portico, avanzi degli edifici anteriori alle costruzioni adrianee. Relazione delle indagini eseguite dal R. Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione negli anni 1892–93, coi rilievi e disegni dell’ architetto Pier Olinto Armanini, Milan 1898, p. 17.

  76 Beltrami 1898, p. 17. See also P. Ciancio Rossetto, G. Pisani Sartorio, F. C. Uginet, eds., Roma Antiqua, “Envois” degli architetti francesi (1786–1901). Grandi edifici pubblici, exhib. cat., Rome 1992, pp. 124–130.

  77 Beltrami 1929, pp. 23–24.

  78 Beltrami 1898, p. 71.

  79 De Angelis d’Ossat 1938.

  80 Giuliani 1970; Bianchi 2000.

  81 For further detail see Giangiaco
mo Martines, “The Structure of the Dome,” in Grasshoff, Heinzelmann, and Wäfler 2009, pp. 99–105; Pelletti 1989; Beltrami 1898; Alberto Terenzio, s.v. “Pantheon,” Enciclopedia Italiana 26, 1949, pp. 212–214; Licht 1968; Martines 1989.

  82 According to Pliny the Elder lime was best after maturing for three years (Naturalis Historia 36.173). See also C. Conti, G. Martines, and C. Usai, “Gli interventi di conservazione su materiali e superfici,” Trattato di restauro architettonico vol. III, ed. Giovanni Carbonara, Torino 1996, pp. 199–205.

  83 D. Moore, The Roman Pantheon: The Triumph of Concrete, Wyoming 1995.

  84 Vitruvius, 2.6.1.

  85 Guglielmo De Angelis d’Ossat, “Le rocce adoperate nella cupola del Pantheon,” Atti della Pontificia Accademia della Scienze, Nuovi Lincei 83, 1930, pp. 211–215. Cf. Lamprecht 1985.

  86 Licht 1968, pp. 134–136. See also Terenzio 1949; Lamprecht 1985, p. 176.