1. The Imperial Vaulted Style and the Cosmos

2. The Pantheon, Rome, Italy, AD 118-128; Apollo of Damascus, arch.
I. The Pantheon (“temple to all gods”): The imperial “vaulted style” in temple architecture
The Pantheon, Rome, Italy, AD ; Apollo of Damascus, arch.

3. I.
The Pantheon

4. Parthenon (Greek) Pantheon (Roman)
I. A. Ritual: entering the Pantheon’s world: four compositional elements and formal analysis
Parthenon (Greek)
Pantheon (Roman)

5. The Pantheon I. A. 1. Colonnaded court (does not survive)
a. How did imperial hyper-symmetry reinforce a feeling of interiorness?
The Pantheon

6. I. A. 2. Octastyle porch a. What kind of entrance does the octastyle porch provide?
The Pantheon

7. I. A. 2. b. column material and origin?
The Pantheon

8. The Pantheon I. A. 3. Rectangular transition block
a. as a visual transition between the porch and the rotunda?
I. A. 4. Rotunda: the cosmos revealed
The Pantheon

9. oculus: 30' diameter, 5' thick concrete
The Pantheon
oculus: 30' diameter, 5' thick concrete
coffering is purely illusionary device

10. 5 diminishing rings of 28 coffers 28 days = moon oculus = sun
I. B. A universe in symbolism: What planetary symbolism is inscribed in the Pantheon “cella”?
5 diminishing rings of 28 coffers
28 days = moon
oculus = sun
5 rings = 5 known planets
= 7 celestial bodies
7 niches for
7 divinities

11. I. C. Concrete and the vaulted style in detail: The great vaulted interior as a metaphor for the all-
encompassing Empire as a cosmos
1. Plan: How is Roman axiality discreetly introduced into the otherwise centralized plan?
I. C. 1. a. In what terminal volume does the main axis end?
The Pantheon

12. The Pantheon on the cross axis on the diagonal axis
I. C. 2. How is variation introduced into the plan and the elevation?
The Pantheon
on the cross axis
on the diagonal axis

13. I. C. 2. a. What is an example of the primary system of decoration?
I. C. 2. b. What is an example of the secondary system of decoration?
The Pantheon

14. Greek importance of stasis, stability, logic, rationality
I. D. Imperial context: the illusion of autonomy in the vast imperial interior
1. How does the Pantheon interior “instruct (intoxicate) the senses?”
Greek importance of stasis, stability, logic, rationality
Imperial Roman architecture: apparent rationality informed by senses

15. Imperial vaulted style
I. D. 2. How does the vaulted style give the impression of unlimited autonomy?
“affinity between the potential for action and the architectural forms” (MacDonald 178)
Greek trabeated style
Imperial vaulted style
Trajan’s Forum – the Basilica
Pantheon