By Rainer Sousa
In the first decades of the Christian Era, the Roman Empire experienced the transformations that culminated in the spread of Christianity within its domains. Apparently, this historical process resulted in the waning of the various pagan beliefs that, over the centuries, had established themselves in Roman culture. However, this view can be relativized when we come across the history of the Pantheon of Agrippa, one of the best known pagan temples of antiquity.
Built in 27 BC, this temple came about thanks to a tribute paid to the consul Marco Vispânio Agrippa. The proof of authorship is found in the words carved into the temple's access gate, which read:"Built by Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, for the third time consul". Despite having great importance in the religious life of Roman citizens, the center of worship was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 80 AD. C.
Only four decades later, the temple was rebuilt under the orders of Emperor Hadrian, who according to some indications, would have been the architect of the work and wished to house all the Roman and foreign deities. in the same place. His syncretic posture was the result of the various trips he made throughout the eastern portion of the empire and his express admiration for the practices and customs of some peoples conquered by Rome.
The building has strong traces of Hellenistic architecture. Its interior houses a vaulted dome taken by quadrangular-shaped alveoli. At the top of this same dome there is still a circular opening – made in honor of the sun god – with nine meters in diameter that allows a light lock to enter the enclosure. Wrongly, its builders believed that the distance from the opening to the ground (43 meters) allowed the rain to dry before reaching the ground floor.
As a kind of abode of the gods, the Pantheon was administered by a group of priests who watched over the statues and torches lit in honor of the deities. Even being a point of worship to Roman and foreign gods, some of these statues were used to represent the various names that the same deity received in other cultures. In addition, access to the building was restricted to a few authorities and no public rituals were allowed on its premises.
During the period of Christianization and the crumbling of the Roman Empire, the Pantheon of Agrippa was only maintained thanks to the efforts of priests of the Church itself. In the year 608, with the Roman world dominated by other peoples, the Byzantine king Flavius Phocas handed the construction over to the hands of Pope Boniface IV, who transformed the place into a Christian church dedicated to Saint Mary and All Saints. In this way, the temple got rid of the acts of vandalism that marked the beginning of the Middle Ages.
From the 16th century to the present day, the Pantheon has been transformed into the tomb of several personalities linked to Italian history. Among other figures, the place became the last home of the painters Rafael Sanzio (1483 – 1520) and Annibale Carraci (1560 - 1609), the architect Baldassare Peruzzi (1481 - 1537) and the monarchs Vitor Emanuel II (1820 - 1878) and Humberto I (1844 - 1900).