Essay On The Pantheon

The pediment, which is now blank, used to be decorated with a relief sculpture made out of bronze. There are also drill holes in the pediment, which suggest that a crest or symbol of some sort was attached on to it.
Inside the Pantheon is a dome that has a perfect spherical shape. In the centre of this dome is an opening with a symmetrical circular shape known as the ‘oculus’, which is sometimes also referred to as “Great Eye”.

Reasons why these features of architecture were chosen:
The meaning of the word ‘Pantheon’ is ‘contains all gods’ with ‘pan’ meaning all and ‘theon’ meaning gods. The interior of the Pantheon contains altars to individual gods hence the name.
The dome in the interior of the Pantheon is round, inclusive and an all-encompassing continuum. These all symbolize the idea of heaven or the dome of heaven. The circular form contains sculptures of gods and deified emperors thus giving the idea of heaven where they all reside. The reason a dome was used was to give the Romans a representation of heaven on earth. The light that falls inside the dome form the sun through the oculus manifests the movements of the heavens on earth as the earthly sphere meets the heavenly sphere.
The oculus also known as the “Great Eye “symbolises the eye of heaven looking down on the earthly sphere.
Each of the three types of columns, Ionic, Doric and Corinthian represent different things. The Corinthian columns on the porch of the Pantheon represent a tree or “tree of life”.
Corinthian is a style of column first established in ancient Greece, used through out the classical period in architecture. It is a complex design with extravagant decorations craved at the top of the column (“capital”). These include scrolls, flowers and acanthus leaves. The shafts of these columns are not fluted