It is a well-known fact that Romans copied Greeks in everything during the ancient times including gods, temples, names and even their mythology. Pantheon in Greek means the Temple of all gods got its name by having the statues of all gods surrounding it.

I must mention the man that is standing behind this beauty. He was the son-in-law of a future first emperor of Rome known as Augustus. He was a man of many talents, including architecture, consulship, but also, he was an extraordinarily successful general and governor of Germanic tribes. His name was Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Emperor Augustus and Agrippa have planned to rebuild Rome, all in marble.

Pantheon’s construction started in the reign of Augustus, from 27 BC to 14 AD. Unfortunately, it was not completed by neither Augustus nor Agrippa; it was completed by Emperor Hadrian around 126 AD.

Although it has a beautiful porch in its front, made of huge granite Corinthian columns, in its base it is circular and have a concrete dome with an opening or Oculus looking at the sky as if it’s heavens.

When you walk into the Pantheon you have a sense of this ancient temple being still used for exercising multi deities’ religion however it is now a church, St Mary, and the Martyrs.

Pantheon still stands, although in an extremely poor exterior condition, and it is used for Sunday Mass and occasional weddings. It is the resting place for two Italian Kings, Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I with his Queen and wife Margherita. Well-known painter an architect of the Renaissance Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino or simply known as Raphael is laid to rest here by his own wish, with inscriptions on his sarcophagus:

” ILLE HIC EST RAPHAEL TIMUIT QUO SOSPITE VINCI / RERUM MAGNA PARENS ET MORIENTE MORI”

meaning “Here lies Raphael, by whose untimely end, nature lost both a rival and a friend”

If you like this tale perhaps you may enjoy another