The Pantheon: The Pantheon is a temple, church in Rome. It is absolutely beautiful, in the sense that it has hundreds to thousands of visitors every month. The original Pantheon was built in 27 BC-25 BC under the Roman Empire, during the third consulship of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the portico of the building. The inscription reads M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT, “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, counsel for the third time, built this.” The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of granite Corinthian columns under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus), the Great Eye, open to the sky. The weight of the dome is concentrated on a ring of voussoirs 8.5 meters in diameter (almost 30 feet) which form the oculus. A rectangular structure links the portico with the rotunda. In the walls at the back of the portico were different sections for statues of Caesar, Augustus, and Agrippa. The large bronze doors to the cella, once plated with gold, still remain, but the gold has gone away. The pediment was decorated with a sculpture in bronze showing the Battle of the Titans – holes can even still be seen where the clamps which held the sculpture in place were fixed. It is adorned with paintings and a garden.
Roman Colosseum: The Colosseum’s name has long been thought to be derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-meter statue) of Nero close by. The statue was later remodeled by Nero’s successors into the likeness of Sol or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero’s head was replaced several times by the head of succeeding emperors. At some time during the Middle Ages, the statue disappeared; people believe that since the statue was bronze, it was melted down for usage of other things. Evidence of its base may be found between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Roma and Venus.
The Colosseum is an arena, a huge and vast space of masonry walls and can be seen miles away because of its height and width. The Colosseum measures 48 meters high, 188 meters long, and 156 meters wide. There are 80 arches on each of the first three levels, making 240. The wooden arena floor was 86 meters by 54 meters, and covered by sand. Its elliptical shape kept the players from retreating to a corner and allowed the spectators to be closer to the action than a circle would allow. Over 100,000 cubic meters of travertine stone was used in its construction. Lots of plays, and fights were viewed in this area.
The Temple of Venus and Rome: the largest temple in Ancient Rome, It was located at the far east side of the Forum Romanum, near the Colosseum. It was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix (Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune) and Roma Aeterna (Eternal Rome). The designer was emperor Hadrian. Construction on the temple began in 121. Although the temple was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, the building was finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius.
The building measured 110 m in length and 53 m in width. It was placed on a stage measuring 145 m in length and 100 m in width. The temple is made up of two main chambers (cellae), where the cult statue of the god was, in this case, the statues of Venus, the goddess of love, and Roma, the goddess of Rome, both of them seated on a throne. The cellae were placed symmetrically back-to-back. Roma’s cella was faced west, looking out over the Forum Romanum, Venus’ cella was faced east, looking out over the Colosseum.
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