Who built Rome’s Pantheon, Marcus Agrippa or Hadrian?

by Damien F. Mackey “My investigation thus allows us to reclaim Hadrian’s planning and agency for at least part of this iconic building, and to discern more clearly his prominence, and perhaps even his personality, in the imperial capital city”. Mary T. Boatwright Introduction Conventionally considered, I believe that it is quite impossible for historians to arrive at a fully accurate answer to this question regarding the celebrated Pantheon. The received text book history and chronology just will not allow it. The conventional scholarship, as typified here by Mary T. Boatwright, would have Marcus Agrippa, whose inscription appears boldly inscribed on the Pantheon, dying around 12 BC, whilst the emperor Hadrian is thought to have come to power more than a century later, in around 117 AD. The best that could be said, from a commonsense point of view, is that Marcus Agrippa clearly built the Pantheon, while the emperor Hadrian may later have embellished and/or refurbished, it. The Pantheon could not have been a Hadrianic era building! My New History for Hadrian and Marcus Agrippa The revised history and chronology of these times that I have developed, however, can accommodate Agrippan and Hadrianic involvement in the Pantheon at the same time. This is because I have multi-identified both the emperor Hadrian and Marcus Agrippa in ways that are totally unconventional. Their era is the Infancy of Jesus Christ. The emperor Hadrian, a Seleucid king, was (among others) Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ and Augustus, who decreed a universal Census when Jesus Christ was born (Luke 2:1): Time to consider Hadrian, that ‘mirror-image’ of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus (2) Time to consider Hadrian, that 'mirror-image' of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus Marcus Agrippa, the Right-Hand Man Of Caesar Augustus (Lindsay Powell), was, variously Herod ‘the Great’ (also for Augustus); Philip the Phrygian (for Antiochus); and Herodes Atticus (for Hadrian). On this, see e.g. my article: Herod, the emperor’s signet right-hand man (7) Herod, the emperor's signet right-hand man So, just as King Herod (Marcus Agrippa) ‘the Great’ built on an enormous scale on behalf of the emperor Augustus Caesar, so, too, did he do the same for Hadrian as an alter ego of this Augustus. Disentangling convention Having laid this new and revolutionary foundation, we can now bring more light to bear on what Mary T. Boatwright has written at the beginning of her 2013 article: Hadrian and the Agrippa Inscription of the Pantheon (7) Hadrian and the Agrippa Inscription of the Pantheon Introduction Recent work has reignited debate about the authorship and meaning of the Pantheon, a now-iconic building whose convoluted testimony and unusual design have always complicated its understanding. …. Although the Pantheon is frequently considered to be Hadrian’s most famous construction and a key to his character and politics … it was long attributed to Marcus Agrippa because the inscription on its facade names this colleague of Augustus as patron: M. Agrippa L. f. co(n)s(ul) tertium fecit (CIL VI 896 [1]: … ‘Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul three times, made [this]’ …. Only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries did scholars begin to agree that the structure was Hadrianic. Their deduction, based on brickstamps, excavation and literary evidence, seemed conirmed by Herbert Bloch’s more thorough analysis of Roman brickstamps in the 1930s, which dated to AD 118 or 119 the initial construction of the present Pantheon. …. Doubts about the Pantheon’s design and architect lingered … however, as Mark Wilson Jones explores elsewhere in this volume, as have questions about the relationship of the present building to the Agrippan and Domitianic predecessors known for its site. …. The newest challenge to the Pantheon’s Hadrianic date came in 2007, when Lise Hetland republished the Pantheon’s brickstamps. Arguing that the vast majority are Trajanic and only one clearly Hadrianic, she concluded that Trajan initiated the present building shortly after ad 110 (when lightning destroyed Domitian’s restored Pantheon), and substantially completed it before his death in AD 117. Damien Mackey’s comment: This adds an apparent further complication: TRAJAN. Once again my system can resolve this, for Trajan also was Hadrian: Hadrianus Traianus Caesar – Trajan transmutes to Hadrian (2) Hadrianus Traianus Caesar – Trajan transmutes to Hadrian Mary T. Boatwright continues: …. If she is correct, Hadrian was responsible mostly, or merely, for completing another’s project. …. This conclusion has radical implications, including for the interpretation of Hadrian and his relationship to the city of Rome. Although I do not contest Hetland’s Trajanic dating for the Pantheon’s inception, and I leave to Wilson Jones discussion of the Pantheon’s design (and architects), I argue in this paper that the Pantheon still provides insight into Hadrian and the topography of Rome. My focus is the Pantheon’s famous Agrippa inscription. Its placement on the Pantheon’s pronaos makes it among the finishing touches of the building, and it must reflect Hadrian in some way. But the inscription does not name Hadrian. This is usually taken to confirm a notice in the Historia Augusta, that Hadrian restored the Pantheon and various other buildings and consecrated them with the names of their original builders (HA Hadrian 19.10). …. The literary evidence, however, deserves closer study. Furthermore, comparison of other building and rebuilding inscriptions in Rome, including the rebuilding inscription of Septimius Severus and Caracalla on the Pantheon, underscores the uniqueness of the Agrippa inscription’s huge bronze lettering, and argues for Hadrian’s responsibility. The cos. tertium wording of the inscription can also substantiate Hadrian’s authorship. My investigation thus allows us to reclaim Hadrian’s planning and agency for at least part of this iconic building, and to discern more clearly his prominence, and perhaps even his personality, in the imperial capital city. …. [End of quote] For more architectural anomalies pertaining to this period, see my articles: Emperor Hadrian’s palaces missing (8) Emperor Hadrian's palaces missing Did Hadrian or Herod build the Wailing Wall? Did Hadrian or Herod build the Wailing Wall? Caligula exalts Marcus Agrippa Caligula exalts Marcus Agrippa