Pantheon and Maison Carrée: Roman Imperial Temples
The Pantheon
The Pantheon is a temple of the early second century, built in the Roman imperial style. The materials used are concrete, granite, marble, brick, and wood. It is located in the Field of Mars in Rome. The name means “Temple of all the Gods.” The dedication of the initial construction was carried out by Agrippa, a Roman politician and general. In the year 80 AD, a fire destroyed almost the entire temple. It was restored and rebuilt by Hadrian in the early second century AD.
The gigantic dome of the Pantheon represents the greatest achievement of Roman engineering. It was a big challenge because it pushed the limits of the resistance of the materials. The building is accessed through a pronaos or portico with eight Corinthian columns of granite (octastyle) that support an entablature with the plain inscription “M[arcus] Agrippa, L[ucii] F[ilius], CO[n]S[ul] Tertium Fecit” (“Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this”), and a triangular pediment formed by three floors. The temple is circular but has a rectangular portico.
The technical features of the Pantheon show that it is based on Roman construction using mortar (opus cementicum) and brick (opus latericium). It rises above a drum, and the cupola is crowned by an oculus that provides light and ventilation. The circular space of the cella wall presents a number of chapels and opens to an attic on which the cupola rests. The space was designed to evoke grandiosity, and the coffers were made lighter as they approached the zenithal oculus.
It is located in the heart of Rome, and despite its dimensions, it adapts perfectly to the urban environment. The Pantheon was a temple dedicated to all the gods of Olympus. The interior constitutes a representation of Roman cosmology (Aristotle) with the seven heavenly gods, and the great dome symbolizes the celestial vault that covered the Earth, as the Romans believed. The sun represents the oculus. Man was granted the ability to unite with the divine.
Such a structure was not a Roman invention since this was already known in the Mycenaean and Mesopotamian worlds. This dome has been a source of study and inspiration for various authors such as Michelangelo (dome of the Basilica of St. Peter) and Bernini.
Imperial Roman Temple: Maison Carrée
The Maison Carrée is a 1st century BC building, whose author is unknown. It is currently located in Nîmes, France, and its material is limestone. This temple is built on a podium of Etruscan influence that only allows access to the entrance through a large staircase. The portico is dominated by six slender Corinthian columns, approximately 17 meters tall. The entablature comprises an architrave with three bands, a decorated frieze, and a lost cornice. There is a triangular pediment without ornamentation.
The side walls have Corinthian columns, most of which are attached to the cella wall. The side has a frieze of floral decoration. The roof is closed with a gabled cover. The Maison Carrée is a rectangular peripteral temple. It also has a portico with a monumental hexastyle scale to which four columns are added on the sides. At the time, it had 20 columns and was surrounded by a terrace, leaving only the cella. The room has no sacred opening to the exterior nor any internal division.
The priority of the front facade over the other sides of the building made Roman temples become an important piece of urban layout, and they were intended to be viewed from the front. This temple was built by order of Governor Agrippa in honor of Emperor Augustus and his family. He was also dedicated to the gods of Rome and to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, the emperor’s grandsons.
During the time of Augustus, a lot of public monuments and memorials were built: aqueducts, triumphal arches, amphitheaters, etc.