The Pantheon

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Pantheon is one of the greatest Roman monuments still standing. First built as a pagan temple by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Caesar Augustus, it was rebuilt in its current form by Emperor Hadrian in AD 126 after a devastating fire and still stands just under two thousand years later almost exactly as the Romans intended. It’s famous free-standing dome is a marvel of Roman architecture and engineering, and makes it one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions to this day.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Matthew Nicholls to unlock the secrets of this wonder of Ancient Rome and discover how the Romans built a temple with a craftsmanship that rivals the skills of builders today.

This episode was produced by Joseph Knight and edited by Aidan Lonergan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the entrance on history hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's episode
0:15.8	where we are talking about one of the if not the greatest ancient Roman monument still
0:20.8	standing. It's called the Pantheon, situated near Central Rome today, and it's one
0:26.6	of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. So no wonder that we dedicate our final
0:32.2	wonders of the world episode this March to this massive temple.
0:37.0	Now the pantheon is rightly hailed as an architectural marvel.
0:41.0	You can't help when you walk inside the pantheon today to look up and be absolutely blown away by the massive
0:48.9	freestanding dome above you that was built almost 2,000 years ago.
0:55.1	To explain all about the pantheon story,
0:57.2	well I was delighted to head up to St John's College in Oxford
1:00.0	to interview Professor Matthew Nichols.
1:02.3	Now Matthew, he is a walking Encyclopedia on all the great
1:06.0	monuments of Imperial Rome and an absolutely fantastic speaker. This was great fun and I really do hope you enjoy.
1:14.0	So without further ado, here's Matthew.
1:17.0	Matthew, it is Matthew.
1:20.0	Matthew, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
1:24.8	Nice to be here. Thanks for asking me.
1:26.5	Last time we were in person, we were in the depths of the Forest of Germany,
1:30.3	talking all things the Bachelor of the Teututerburg Forest, a really fun trip.
1:33.6	Now from the comfort of your office in Oxford, we're going to the heart of ancient Rome,
1:38.5	the Pantheon.
1:39.8	Not only is this one of the most immaculate Roman buildings surviving but I mean it is a
	...

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