I have never read a serious study of the
Pantheon, from Rivoira to
MacDonald, that thought that Agrippa's
Pantheon was domed. Not only undocumented but most unlikely.
Hadrian kept the conventional temple front (but the letters that state that it's Agrippa's are Hadrian's letters), but the cosmic symbol of the perfect 120 square feet (
Roman) of the spherical interior space (the sphere being tangent to the floor) and the post-Domitianic engineering to build it are Hadrianic. The architectural engineer who did such brilliant
work was pretty surely
Apollodorus of
Damascus (also at
work in Trajan's
Forum and the Mercati), who continued to
work with
Hadrian. The idea of building a
Pantheon in that design is probably Hadrian's own.
Roman brick making was franchised and supervised; the licensed brickmakers
had to put stamps on their bricks, since the
quality of bricks and mortar was so extremely important. The stamped bricks, not only in the circular
part of the
Pantheon but in the brick parts of the porch, are Hadrianic, datable about AD 120. Hadrian's romantic feelings for tradition and for
men whose legacy he admired, such as
Agrippa, account for
his pietas made manifest in this (IMO--and with all respect to Hagia Sophia) most awesome and admirable of all ancient buildings; at least, its interior space is the most awe inspiring.
Pat L.
P.S. Those are excellent photographs.
Pat L.
