The Role of the Sun in the Pantheon’s Design and Meaning

Abstract

Despite being one of the most recognizable buildings from ancient Rome, the Pantheon is poorly understood. While its architecture has been well studied, its function remains uncertain. This paper argues that both the design and the meaning of the Pantheon are in fact dependent upon an understanding of the role of the sun in the building, and of the apotheosized emperor in Roman thought. Supporting evidence is drawn not only from the instruments of time in the form of the roofed spherical sundial, but also from other Imperial monuments, notably Nero's Domus Aurea and Augustus's complex of structures on the Campus Martius -his Ara Pacis, the 'Horologium Augusti,' and his Mausoleum. Hadrian's Mausoleum and potentially part of his Villa at Tivoli are drawn into this argument as correlatives. Ultimately, it is proposed that sun and time were linked architecturally into cosmological signposts for those Romans who could read such things.

Uncovering a masterpiece of Roman engineering: The project of Via Appia between Colle Pardo and Terracina

“…The original project of Via Appia thus arose from a complex interplay of geometrical and astronomical techniques, not unlikely other spectacular projects of later Roman architecture, such as Augustus' Campus Martius and Hadrian's Pantheon [20,21]. Can the astronomical alignment to Castor be framed in such a scenario, or should we regard it as a mere coincidence?…”

Augustus' Power from the Stars and the Foundation of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum

“…The original, extensive interpretation of these remains in terms of a complex architectural, sun-related project with the Ara Pacis (Buchner 1976) has been, however, re-assessed by later studies (Heslin 2007, Hannah 2009, Haselberger 2011. It is also true that the Pantheon has been shown to be a building intimately connected with the celestial cycles, since a spectacular hierophany starts there at the spring equinox and reaches its maximum on the day of the foundation of Rome (Hannah 2009, Hannah andMagli 2011), but these results hold for the presently visible, Hadrianic version, and much debate exists on how the original structure conceived by Agrippa looked like. Other places where an archaeo-astronomical confirm of the Augustan "stellar" iconography might be naturally searched for are, however, the towns founded by Augustus.…”

The Pantheon, Eye of Rome, and Its Glimpse of the Sky

“…The authors are proposing that the symbolic acton of the sun on that day was that of putng "Rome among the Gods". "If we suppose, as seems likely, that the emperor was celebratng this precise day there, then his entrance "together with the sun" would have been a symbolic link between the people and the Gods" [20]. The Pantheon that we see today was built at the tme of Hadrian, but it seems reasonable to imagine that some rituals existed -and related hierophanies linking the Pantheon to the sun -even at the tme of Augustus.…”

“…Therefore, any link of this day to architectures comes as no surprise. The role of the sun in the Pantheon on April 21 is also mentoned in [20]. The authors are proposing that the symbolic acton of the sun on that day was that of putng "Rome among the Gods".…”

“…There is a diference of about three degrees. Probably, this is due to the fact that the entrance of the Pantheon of Hadrian was oriented towards the Mausoleum of Augustus [20]. Let us add the possibility that, any tme an emperor entered the Pantheon on April 21, he was imagined accompanied by the spirit of Augustus coming from his mausoleum to celebrate the foundaton of Rome again.…”