I want to turn from the temple of Venus and Roma to the much more famous temple that Hadrian constructed. If the temple of Venus to, and Roma was to two gods, Venus and Roma, the, Hadrian's pantheon was to all the gods, which is what pantheon means, to all the gods. A temple to all the gods that he built in Rome between 118 and 128 A.D. You see a Google Earth image of it here. The Pantheon surrounded by by modern structures. It is one of the greatest masterpieces of architecture of all times. In fact, if you were to ask a group of architectural experts to make a list of their ten, that, of the ten greatest buildings ever built, it's hard for me to believe that not every one of them would at least list somewhere in that list of ten, the Pantheon, not only because it's a great building in its own right, but because it has had such a, an enormous impact on architecture in Roman times, as we'll see in later lectures, but also on architecture in post-antique times. An extraordinarily influential building. And there are some, and I would be one of them, maybe I'd be the only one, I hope not, who would list the Pantheon as the greatest building ever built by man or woman of any time in any place. And you can see as we look at it together today, whether you think I come close, or I'm way off the mark on that. But I believe vehemently that it was the greatest building ever built. And it remains an extraordinary structure to see and to experience. You see it here, oh and by the way, although I mentioned that Hadrian was an amateur architect. We don't know the name of the architect for the Pantheon. Do I think that it was Hadrian? Absolutely not. Hadrian was not this good. He was an amateur architect, not a professional architect. This is an extraordinary work of art. He may have had some input, he undoubtedly did because we're going to see that the Pantheon is at the same time complex and simple. It's also traditional and innovative. And what we're going to see Hadrian and his architect doing here and also doing at the villa at Tivoli is combining in an extraordinary way traditional Roman and innovative Roman architecture. Concrete construction and the original vocabulary of Greek architecture, namely columns, combined in the same place, and he was highly influenced in this regard by his predecessor, Trajan. Think of the markets in forum of Trajan. The way in which we had combined in the same complex, a traditional forum and a very innovative marketplace. We're going to see the same thing in the Pantheon, we're going to see the same thing at Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. So, Trajan exerting of Trajan and Apollodorus of Damascus exerting a very strong influence as did Rabirius on the architecture of Hadrian. again, this, this Google Earth image is useful, because it shows us the building in its modern environment but it's important to keep in mind that the Pantheon in Rome was part of a complex in antiquity as most temples were. Temples that were in sanctuaries, temples that were in fora, we've seen that in the course of this semester, that they usually did not stand in isolation but were part of architectural complexes. We see that here. This model is very helpful in that regard, because it shows us that there was a rectangular forecourt. That that forecourt had covered colonnades on either side. That there was some sort of entranceway here, possibly an arch. Possibly an altar, also, to all the gods, in front of the temple. And then the temple itself, the Pantheon itself. Now, this model is also very useful in the sense that it gives you an idea of what you would actually have seen if you had walked into this complex and this open rectangular space and walked toward the Pantheon. What would you actually have seen? Well, all that you would have actually seen was the porch. The porch, which had an attic behind it, which screened the cylindrical drum and the dome from the viewer. So if you were standing here, all you would have seen was this porch. Now, this porch is very traditional. It looks like other Roman temples, the fronts of facades of Roman temples, that we've looked at before. It looks like other Greek temples. Because what you would have seen was the pediment, a column supporting that pediment typical Roman temple from the front. Deep porch, freestanding columns in that porch. Single staircase, facade orientation. Very different from the temple of Venus and Roma. Much more Roman looking. And then a high podium, a high podium, which we already mentioned, the Temple of Venus and Roma did not have. That's what you would have seen, as you were standing in front of it. You would have thought, well this is, you know, very much in keeping with other Roman temples. But of course there was a surprise when one walked through the doors; and that is the very essence of Hadrianic architecture, the surprise that one gets when one actually goes from the outside of a building into the inside of a building. Before we do that, I just want to show you the back of the cylindrical, because this, this traditional porch, shielded a very innovative cylindrical drum, supported by a hemispherical dome, as you can see here. The construction technique, the same as we've seen from the time of Augustus, from the time of the temple of Mercury at Baia. The use of concrete construction faced with brick. It's more sophisticated here than it has ever been before. And we can see that the artists have, the architect has relieved the severity of the structure by adding three cornices. You can see them here, two of them, at least, here, there's another one down here. Three cornices. And you can also see very interestingly these brick arches, which tell us a great deal about Roman building practice during this period especially, obviously, for the use of concrete construction. Because what those were used for is to help keep the concrete from settling. After the wet concrete had been poured, those arches keep it from settling until it dries. And then once it dries, those arches are no longer needed, because the building, the concrete walls, support the building on their own, support the dome on their own, and they're no longer needed, but of course, they're left there and then they have a certain aesthetic value in the aftermath and so you can see very clearly here as you look at what is preserved, and the building is extremely well-preserved, of the back of the building. You can see reference to that construction. These diagrams, both the plan, the plan of the structure, the cross-section, and the diagram on the left-hand side, also give us some very interesting and important information. They show us that the circular drum was internally half the height of the diameter. You can see that in the, in the diagram on the left-hand side of the screen, of the diameter of the structure and that it was surmounted by a hemispherical dome, the crown of which is the exact distance, the same exact distance. So this was very carefully orchestrated by the architect to achieve what he needed to achieve here. You can also see, if you look at the plan, that, again, the, the, the predecessors for this are clearly the frigidaria at Pompeii. The thermal bath at Baia, this round structure with the radiating apses, very similar, but of course done in much, much grander scale. Now with regard to with regard to, and this is the facade of the Pantheon, of course, as it looks today, with regard to how they made this happen, how they were able to take the small scale frigidaria the slightly larger Temple of Mercury, the larger still Domus Aurea of Nero, or the dome drum in the Domus Transitoria, and turn it into the Pantheon, ultimately. Has to do in part not only with the skill of the architects. Has to do in part also with the increasing sophistication that we've been talking about quite consistently of the use of concrete construction by the Romans. But also has to do with the recipe for concrete. We haven't talked about the recipe for concrete since the time of Caligula, when we talked about the fact that he had made some adjustments. Well, Hadrian made some adjustments, or Hadrian and his architects made some adjustments, as well during Hadrian's reign and what they did was they, two things. They decreased the thickness, they decreased the thickness of the walls from bottom to top and they also did what Caligula had done before, but did it even, even more so by mixing, using as an aggregate at the base of the dome, they used heavy, heavy stone, a basalt, a very heavy, thick basalt. But when they got toward the top, they mixed or, the idea was, when they got toward the top, they would mix in as an aggregate a porous pumice, which was much, much lighter. And that's essentially how they achieved, their goals. Now, before I talk about the exterior of the structure and take you through the building, I want to mention one very interesting exchange between Hadrian and Trajan's architect Apollodorus of Damascus. You'll remember that I said that the temple of Venus in Roma, we think was designed by Hadrian himself. And at one point, Hadrian, Apollodorus was still alive, and at one point, and highly respected, and at one point, Hadrian went to Apollodorus to ask him for his thoughts on the designs that Hadrian was doing for the plans. That Hadrian was doing for the temple of Venus in Roma, which tells us, you wondered where I got, where I, how we know that Hadrian was an amateur architect. It's because of this passage, because it tells us that Hadrian was doing some designing, that he was designing the Temple of Venus and Roma. And we fortunately have the, the the Roman Senator of eastern birth, Dio Cassius, Dio Cassius, a Roman Senator of eastern birth who wrote a history of Rome in the third century, gives us, third century AD, gives us an account of this interaction between Hadrian and Apollodorus of Damascus. And although I don't like to read to you, I am going to read to you from this quote because it is so critical for our understanding both of the pantheon and for Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. So, bear with me as I read this. You know a bit longish quote. So Cassius Dio tells us and I quote, Hadrian first drove into exile and then put to death Apollodorous who had carried out many of Trajan's building projects. The pretext given for Hadrian's action was, Apollodorous had been guilty of some serious offense. But the truth is that when Trajan was at one time consulting with Apollodorous about a certain problem connected with his buildings, that is, Trajan's buildings, the architect said to Hadrian, so this seems to have been before even Hadrian became emperor. The architect said to Hadrian, who had interrupted them with some advice, go away and draw your pumpkins, you know nothing about these problems. For it so happened that Hadrian was at that time priding himself on some sort of drawing. When he became emperor, that is when Hadrian became emperor, he remembered the insult and refused to put up with Apollo, and refused to put up with Apollodorus's outspokenness. He sent him the plan for the Temple of Venus and Roma in order to demonstrate that it was possible for a great work to be conceived without Apollodorus's help. And asked him, that is, Hadrian asked Apollodorus, if he thought the building was well designed. Apollodorus sent a reply saying, that as far as the temple of Venus and Roma was concerned, it should have been placed in a higher position. It should have had a high podium, not a low podium, according to Apollodorus, who goes on to say, with regard to the cult images, Apollodorus, Apollodorus goes on to say, with regard to the cult images, they were made on a scale which was too great for the height of the cella. For if the goddesses should wish to stand up and leave the temple, he said, they would be unable to do so. When he wrote all of this so bluntly Hadrian was both irritated, and deeply pained. He had the man slain. Now, the pumpkins. What's critical about this, it tells us two things that are absolutely essential in our understanding of Hadrianic architecture. One, that Hadrian was doing designing on his own, that he was an amateur architect, and he seems to be very much involved in the design of the Temple in Ven, of Venus and Roma. It also tells us that Hadrian was making some drawings of pumpkin domes. What are pumpkin domes? Well, pump, pumpkin domes are un, are undoubtedly segmented domes. They are just the kind of dome that Rabirius did for the octagonal rooms in the Palatine Palace, rooms that Hadrian was exposed to by living in that palace himself, obviously fond of them, liked them started to draw his own pumpkins, and we're going to see that that, that those pumpkins, well, we don't have a pumpkin dome in the Pantheon, as we'll see, probably fortunately, but we do have them at Hadrian's villa. so, again, very critical for you to be aware of this interesting exchange, very momentous exchange, between Hadrian and Apollodorus.
