![]() ![]() Why, then, is his name so prominent?Ī number of scholars have now suggested that the original Pantheon was not a temple in the usual sense of a god’s dwelling place. Thus, Agrippa could not have been the patron of the present building. The inscription was taken at face value until 1892, when a well-documented interpretation of stamped bricks found in and around the building showed that the Pantheon standing today was a rebuilding of an earlier structure, and that it was a product of Emperor Hadrian’s ( who ruled from 117–138 C.E.) patronage, built between about 118 and 128. ![]() ![]() It identifies, in abbreviated Latin, the Roman general and consul (the highest elected official of the Roman Republic) Marcus Agrippa (who lived in the first century B.C.E.) as the patron: “M Agrippa L F Cos Tertium Fecit” (“Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, thrice Consul, built this”). In the case of the Pantheon, however, the inscription on the frieze-in raised bronze letters (modern replacements)-easily deceives, as it did for many centuries. ![]() Archaeologists and art historians value inscriptions on ancient monuments because these can provide information about patronage, dating, and purpose that is otherwise difficult to come by. ![]()
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