Ancient Rome: The Pantheon

The Pantheon was a temple in honor of the Olympic gods; in fact, the word pantheon is Greek for "of all the gods." It is the best-preserved of all the Roman monuments. The original Pantheon was constructed by M. Vispanius Agrippa in 27 B.C. The Pantheon we see today, however, is a reconstruction built by the Emperor Hadrian, perhaps after a fire. In A.D. 609, Pope Boniface VIII received the building as a gift from the emperor of Byzantium. He made it into a Christian church dedicated it to the Madonna and the martyrs.