The Pantheon: From Antiquity to the Present

by Unknown

  The collective dedication of the Pantheon to “all the martyrs” meant that the annual celebration of S. Mariae ad martyres on May 13 also became the origin of the Roman feast in honor of all saints.16 As the English historian the Venerable Bede (673?–735) declared about a century later, the collective dedication was aimed at replacing the earlier dedication of the building to the pantheon of the pagan gods and thus at substituting saints for demons, a claim that was repeated throughout the Middle Ages.17 The oft-repeated story that Pope Boniface had 28 cartloads of martyrs’ bones transferred here from the catacombs outside the walls of Rome was probably invented during the Counter Reformation a millennium later than the Christian consecration, and bears little resemblance to the seventh-century cult of relics in Rome.18

  In the beginning, the Pantheon was simply recorded in liturgical sources as ad martyres, but already by the mid seventh century, the Sanctae Mariae ad martyres, as it officially appeared in administrative sources after 650, was becoming dominant. From the second half of the eighth century, the Pantheon was also called by its unofficial nickname, Sanctae Mariae Rotundae.19 Whereas the dedication of the building to all the martyrs may be equated with that of all the pagan gods in the ancient Pantheon, the additional dedication to the Virgin is puzzling. The Virgin Mary was, of course, not a martyr, and was already honored in the dedications of many older churches in Rome, such as S. Maria Maggiore, S. Maria in Trastevere, and S. Maria Antiqua.20

  The best-known medieval guidebook to the city of Rome, the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, compiled circa 1140 by Benedict, a canon of St. Peter’s, claims that the dedication to the Virgin replaced the original one to Cybele, considered the mother of all the ancient gods.21 Be that as it may, the Christian dedication to the Virgin may well be associated not with Cybele but with the circular shape of the Pantheon. Until the conversion of the Rotunda, there was no Marian church in Rome with a centralized plan. Although frequently associated with Marian dedications in the early modern period, centralized memorials (memoriae) dedicated to the Virgin Mary were common in the eastern part of the Christian world from the fifth century on. Perhaps the most famous was the Chapel of the Hagios Soros in Constantinople. From the early seventh century, this well-documented chapel seems to have been among the main sanctuaries of the Byzantine capital, probably housing important Marian relics, such as the belt and shroud that she had left behind when she ascended to heaven. This no-longer extant chapel was circular and seems to have been domed. It was preceded by an entrance hall (narthex) and terminated on the opposite side with an apse. Since at the time of the consecration of the Pantheon Rome was under strong Byzantine influence, it seems possible that the idea of dedicating a circular sanctuary to the Virgin was imported from the East, and that Hagios Soros in Constantinople may have served as an immediate source of inspiration.22

  Unlike the Byzantine prototype, the Pantheon could boast no relics to evoke the presence of the Virgin Mary within its sanctuary. On the other hand, the Rotunda possessed another kind of sacred object that evoked the Virgin’s presence just as strongly as did a relic, that is, an icon (Fig. 8.1). The image, partially broken but still preserved inside the Pantheon, presents the Virgin dressed in a maphorion, holding the Child in her left arm while pointing to him with her right.23 The icon is first mentioned in an episode that occurred during Stephen III’s pontificate (768–772). The Lombard priest Waldipert, who had failed in a plot against the Romans, took refuge in the Pantheon where he held tenaciously to the “image of God’s mother” to save himself from murder at the hands of the Romans who pursued him.24 The icon does not appear in earlier written sources, but is sometimes believed to have been produced as early as the period of the Christian consecration of the Pantheon, although this cannot be proven on technical grounds. Such an early dating would make the icon one of the oldest in Rome and the only “temple” image directly related to the consecration of the sanctuary where it would take up residence. Other venerable Marian icons in Rome that probably date to the late sixth and seventh centuries include the so-called Salus Populi Romani from S. Maria Maggiore, and the Madonna of S. Maria Nuova, originally from S. Maria Antiqua, a remodeled ancient building in the Roman Forum. Both churches were among the oldest Marian sanctuaries in Rome, dating respectively to the early fifth and sixth centuries and thus predating the installation of their icons.25

  8.1. Madonna and Child icon from the Pantheon, seventh century? (Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome)

  The Christianized Pantheon may thus have fused the eastern practice of dedicating centralized sanctuaries to the Virgin Mary with the idea – which seems to have become Roman practice in the late sixth or seventh centuries – of providing a Marian church with an icon of the Virgin and Child. At the Pantheon, the icon would thus have served as the equivalent for the important contact relics of the Virgin in the Constantinopolitan Soros church. It is possible, however, that the Marian icon was not installed until sometime after 650 when the church changed its official name from the generic designation ad martyres, to Sanctae Mariae ad martyres. The explicit emphasis on the Virgin Mary in the new dedication may thus be attributable to the arrival of the icon. From the second half of the eighth century, the circular shape of the church was embodied in the popular name, Sanctae Mariae Rotundae, which became its official name by the beginning of the twelfth century.26

  The Pantheon as Source

  The architectural uniqueness of the Pantheon meant that the building became a popular source of inspiration for medieval builders. Although it was impossible to emulate its revolutionary construction techniques, which had been lost, the basic design of the Rotunda – a circular plan with enveloping niches topped by a dome – permeates several Late Antique imperial mausolea and early medieval churches across and beyond Europe. Close “academic” copies of the Pantheon can be seen in the mausolea at Maxentius’s Circus (307–312) on the Via Appia and in that of the Tor de’Schiavi (c. 300) on the Via Prenestina in Rome (Fig. 8.2). Other examples inspired by the Rotunda include the fourth-century imperial mausolea of Helena and Constantina. Moreover, matching the Roman prototype in form is Constantine the Great’s domed rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem marking the site of Christ’s tomb and Resurrection.27

  8.2. Exterior of Mausoleum of Tor de’Schiavi, Rome, c. 300. (Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome)

  Toward the end of the seventh century, the English churchman and pilgrim to Rome Wilfrid built a circular church at Hexham, now known only through written sources. Since the church with its unusual circular plan was also dedicated to the Virgin, there can be little doubt that it was ultimately modeled on the Pantheon, the only important circular Marian church in Rome. The English example points to the Pantheon – Santa Maria Rotonda – as the prototype for many later medieval centrally planned churches in the West dedicated to the Virgin.28 An interesting centralized building, which both as a Late Antique mausoleum and Marian church becomes linked to the Pantheon, is Theodoric the Great’s early sixth-century mausoleum in Ravenna, Italy (Fig. 8.3). In the mid ninth century, the tomb of the Ostrogothic king was transformed into a church and explicitly named “Sancta Maria Rotunda.” By the middle of the eleventh century, it was referred to as “the basilica of St. Mary which is shaped in the likeness of the Roman Pantheon.”29 In reality, the centralized mausoleum is a polygonal, two-storied building with walls encircled by niches and topped by a huge monolithic stone shaped as a dome. The fact that the mausoleum was polygonal, crowned by a dome, and incorporating niches all around was enough to recall the Pantheon. The same features characterize several chapels of the Carolingian period, all of them dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the “likeness” of the great Roman prototype.30

  8.3. Exterior of Theodoric’s Mausoleum in Ravenna, early sixth century. (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome)

  The Pantheon thus served as the generic source for a vast number of centralized Marian sanctuari
es throughout medieval Europe. This reception is indicative of the exceptional monument that it was. To be sure, its uniqueness derived not only from its circular plan and dome but primarily from its being the Pantheon, an ingenious and stunning example of ancient architecture that overshadowed all later buildings. The Golden Legend (Legenda aurea) provides a glimpse of the medieval perception of this monument; according to this thirteenth-century compilation of readings on the saints, the Pantheon was a “temple higher and more marvelous than the rest.”31

  Inside Santa Maria Rotonda

  The Pantheon suffered surprisingly few alterations in its conversion to new use. The cylindrical space absorbed its new religious functions without any serious alterations of the layout by Hadrian’s architects; it was not compromised by any inner divisions nor was its function or original north–south axis reoriented.

  Such a smooth transition, accompanied by only minor structural changes, comes as less of a surprise in cases like the Forum churches of Ss. Cosmas and Damian, a former secular hall the original function of which remains unknown; S. Maria Antiqua, a former ceremonial hall providing entrance to the Palatine Hill; and S. Adriano, the former senate house (Fig. 8.4). The principal structure of each of these churches comprised a rectangular, fully covered hall.32 The latter was able to accommodate and serve the same functions as the basilica, the preferred building type adapted by Christians for their places of worship, as exemplified by Old St. Peter’s. We may therefore wonder if the unique space of the Pantheon was as easy to adapt as was that of the three churches on the Forum. Was there any question, for instance, about where to locate the altar inside the circular space? And were there any precedent cases of circular churches in Rome that could have served as models?

  8.4. Exterior of S. Adriano, the former Roman Curia, Rome. (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome)

  Despite the enormous success of the ancient basilica form for accommodating Christian worship, it was indeed not the only type of church plan in use. Two circular churches had in fact been built before the conversion of the Pantheon. The first was S. Stefano al Monte Celio, also known as S. Stefano Rotondo, dedicated by Pope Simplicius (468–483), with a circumference almost as large as the Pantheon’s (Fig. 8.5). Although S. Stefano Rotondo probably served as the local model that legitimized the circular plan for Christian use, no exact records have survived testifying to the original location of the altar.33

  8.5. Interior of S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome. (Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome)

  Whereas S. Stefano was built ex novo as a church, the other much smaller circular church predating the conversion of the Pantheon was originally an ancient mausoleum associated with the cemetery where the Apostle Peter was buried. Pope Symmachus (498–514) transformed the building, which had served as an annex to Old St. Peter’s, into a separate church dedicated to St. Andrea. Reminiscent of the Pantheon, the circular space of S. Andrea was surmounted by a dome, and the surrounding wall was pierced by seven niches (Fig. 8.6). As documented by Sible De Blaauw, the main altar, dedicated to St. Andrew, was placed in the eastern niche directly opposite the entrance and provided with an altar canopy (ciborium). Altars were originally installed in four of the other niches, whereas the remaining two were “filled” only in the eighth century.

  8.6. S. Andrea, with chapels labeled, attached to Old St. Peter’s. (Sible De Blaauw, Cultus et Decor. Liturgia e architettura nella Roma tardoantica e medievale, Vatican City 1994, Fig. 19)

  Like S. Andrea (Fig. 8.6, A1), the church of Santa Maria Rotonda also had the main altar situated directly opposite the entrance in the main exedra where Hadrian’s throne had presumably once stood. Indeed, in contrast to the alternating rectangular and semicircular exedras, the main exedra in Hadrian’s rotunda had already been emphasized by two Corinthian columns projecting into the central space. In this way, the original main axis of the building – from the barrel-vaulted entrance corridor to the principal exedra inside the rotunda – proved amenable to the new Christian context. As for the lateral niches, shortly before the middle of the ninth century the Carolingian poet and biblical exegete Walafried Strabo (c. 808–849) recorded that the Pantheon was a church with altars oriented in “all directions of the wind.”34 This certainly suggests the placement of side altars in the lateral exedras. If so, S. Andrea may have served as the direct model for this arrangement, which may be datable to the time of the Christian consecration of the Pantheon.35

  On account of its importance as the backdrop for the main altar and the celebration of the Mass, the half dome of the main apse was decorated in a fittingly Christian manner, with a mosaic showing a cross in the center similar to the apse mosaic commissioned by Pope Theodore (642–649) for the church of S. Stefano Rotondo (Fig. 8.7). Since the remains of this mosaic were recorded only in the late sixteenth century, we cannot be certain that it dates back to the time of the Christian consecration, though it seems probable.36

  8.7. Apse mosaic of S. Stefano Rotondo. (Alinari 1941)

  We also know that the main altar of the Pantheon was placed under a ciborium of silver and covered by a precious purple cloth (coopertorium) donated by Pope Benedict II (684–685). About a century later, Pope Hadrian I (772–795) restored the ciborium, which, as his contemporary biography states, “had been worn away by age,” and fifty years later the same canopy was completely replaced.37 The practice of adorning an altar with a precious canopy and replacing it periodically appears to have been common, and in the case of S. Andrea, the genealogy of the canopy can be traced back to the consecration of the church in the early sixth century.38 Hence, the main altar in Santa Maria Rotonda may also have received its first ciborium at the time of its consecration around 609.

  Also dating back to the year 609 may have been a large rectangular podium nearly 1 meter high, on which the altar was placed (see Fig. 9.6 and Plate V). Descriptions and drawings from the seventeenth century allow us to reconstruct the original situation with some precision.39 The podium, which was renovated by Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492), filled the apse and extended some 7 meters into the central space. Surrounding it on all three of its freestanding sides was a pergola: a parapet of marble and porphyry plates separated by six porphyry columns carrying an architrave. The podium could be accessed from the front through the central intercolumniation. The altar, surmounted by its canopy supported by four porphyry columns, was placed on the chord of the apse. The back and sides were covered with porphyry plates, while the front was pierced by a so-called fenestrella, a window through which one could peer into the interior of the altar. Such an arrangement suggests the presence of relics inside the altar. Sources going back to the fifteenth century record the relics under the altar as those of the martyrs Rasius and Anastasius, and one of the reliquaries containing these relics records that Boniface himself deposited them there following a Roman tradition established by Pope Gregory the Great (590–604). These martyrs, however, appear neither in the medieval sources nor in the liturgical calendar of Santa Maria Rotonda. If the remains of these martyrs were buried under the main altar by Boniface himself, they evidently did not play an important role in the Christian worship related to the church.40

  Several parts of the altar podium survive and are datable to the later Middle Ages, but the use of porphyry suggests an early medieval origin, as does the idea of an elevated podium in and in front of the apse and equipped with a pergola.41 Probably between 588 and 604, and thus just a few years prior to the conversion of the Pantheon, a similar altar arrangement had been designed for Old St. Peter’s to meet the requirements of the stational liturgy (see the last section of this essay).42 What would have been more natural than for Boniface VIII to have imitated the most recent and authoritative model of the altar of Old St. Peter’s for his new church in the Campus Martius?

  Besides the altar arrangement resembling that recently developed for Old St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Rotonda also needed a choir to accommodate singers and lower-rank
ed clerics. Yet it is hard to imagine a choir situated in front of the altar podium since it would thus have nearly coincided with the area beneath the wide opening at the center of the dome, and thus have been unprotected against the rain, which is seasonally heavy in Rome.43 Any permanent solution for a choir inside Santa Maria Rotonda is therefore difficult to imagine. Another problem would have been designating a space to serve as a sacristy where the clergy could maintain their vestments and keep their liturgical utensils.