Romulus and the Pantheon in Rome

Returning lecturer Professor C. Brian Rose of the University of Pennsylvania and former President of the Archaeological Institute of America discusses one of antiquity’s foremost buildings in Rome, dating back two thousands years. New research on the Pantheon of Marcus Agrippa — dedicated in 25 BCE, destroyed by fire, only to be subsequently rebuilt — reveals that the building’s original pediment featured three scenes from the life of Romulus, which was intended to highlight the central Campus Martius as the site of Romulus’ apotheosis. The decoration also established a link between Romulus and Agrippa’s father-in-law the Emperor Augustus, whose own Mausoleum was axially aligned with the Pantheon.