When I visited my family in Rome in January and March, I saw many important Roman sites, but none were as impressive as the Pantheon. Attached is a picture I took of it, and although I snapped many awe-inspiring pictures of it I do not have a selfie with it. That said, I do have a picture with my father at the Piazza Navona, which is about a thousand feet away, which I’ve also included in this actum. 

The Pantheon in my picture was made in the second century AD, and was built by the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. However, prior to the construction of the Pantheon, there was another Pantheon on the same site that was built by Marcus Agrippa, who was one of Augustus’s closest allies. Hadrian decided to keep the inscription honoring Agrippa as a result of this. The current building sits on top of that old foundation, and though the basic structure was built by the Romans in the second century, the building was converted into a church and the current interior was built during the Renaissance. 

Like many of the ancient Roman buildings that still survive, the Pantheon is made largely out of stone, but much of the dome is made out of concrete. The most noteworthy feature of the Pantheon is its dome, which to this day is the largest freestanding concrete dome in the world – and it’s nearly 2,000 years old! This awe-inspiring dome has an oculus in the middle that lets ample natural light in, and is part of the dome’s structure.

Being a massive stone building, the Pantheon is displayed exactly where it was built two millennia ago. However, as the city of Rome has evolved, it has found itself nestled snugly into the buildings built up around it, and from the street isn’t visible from more than a block or two away. 

Perhaps the most obvious Roman theme that the Pantheon embodies is the general design of it. Being one of Ancient Rome’s most impressive structures, the Pantheon is a poster child for Roman architecture. Domes are a common Roman feature on buildings, and the corinthian columns are also of classic Roman design. In fact, these columns came from Africa – the Romans shipped them to their capital city. The engineering and logistics required to bring them thousands of miles from Egypt to Rome is a marvel in and of itself, and serves as a marker to the ancient Romans’ ability to pull off seemingly unthinkable feats. The logistics of transporting hundreds of tons of stone are something that would have been impossible until only recently.

The dome itself also stands as a testament to the unmatched engineering prowess the Romans had in the ancient world. They successfully made the largest concrete dome in history, and only recently have domes made out of modern materials exceeded the size of the Pantheon’s.

Additionally, the Pantheon stands for the opulence and prowess of Ancient Rome. The building is a massive masterpiece of engineering, and few other ancient societies could produce a structure as large, complex, and well-made as this one. The fact that it’s been used almost continuously since its construction (and is still mostly the original building) stands testament not just to the architectural and engineering abilities of the Romans, but also more broadly to their ability to make a structure in antiquity that was useful for centuries after Rome fell. Its longevity and usefulness has stood the test of time, and the Pantheon is a building emblematic of Ancient Rome: gone, but still very much integrated in our society today.

My object is the statue of elephants at the entrance to the Philly Zoo. I believe it was created in 1946, and while I do not know for sure that the artist explicitly made the state in honor of the 2,164 year anniversary of Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps, I have no doubt that it played a subliminal part in the artistic choice. The material seemed to be made out of Norwegian granite (far inferior to Roman marble) and the internet states that it was sculpted by Carol Highsmith. Originally, I planned to go to the zoo to take a picture with a vulture as they played crucial role in Roman mythos and have an extensive history with Rome. However, there is apparently a raging avian flu pandemic occurring at the moment and all the birds either died or were caged up inside. I immediately thought that this was analogous to the Gallic sack of Rome of 390 BC, only far more devastating in scale for me personally. The zookeepers who saved the birds by moving them inside should be thought of as similar to the Geese who saved the Romans on top of the Capitoline.

I would have preferred to take a picture with live animals, and there were some very cute otters, but I do not know how important they were in Roman history/culture. Additionally, there were no she-wolves there (of either interpretation), thus I was left with no choice but the Norwegian elephant. I believe Rome had its first experience with elephants after conceding a Pyrrhic victory vs Pyrrhus who in turn had them by virtue of Alexander’s interactions with India a 1/2 century earlier. The Romans were (understandably) freaked out the first time they face them in battle, but it appears that they soon got a hang of anti-elephant tactics and were able to withstand elephant charges later. Also, famously Hannibal brought elephants with him over the Alps in his 2nd Punic War with Rome, but evidently as in the case of the tortoise and the hare, they were no match for the slow, boring tactics of Fabius. After this, it seems they played a larger role in Roman mythos and culture/history than in real battles. Elephants reveal the most important Roman cultural ideal: hatred of all things Greek. Rome liked to suggest that they were above using elephants as this was a “Greek thing”, but they still did it sometimes.