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Photoreal Pantheon Project


NiGMa46

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We are building a photoreal quality Pantheon that seeks to be historically accurate but also enjoyable to explore for those interested. Looking for people that want to help out with the project and also people that would like to experience the building through modern virtual reality headsets and other options (like a full walking simulator). I am aware of other projects but this one is attempting to build what people want.

A general model has been built, but it is currently not 100% complete and lacks textures. I recently rendered some 360 degree panoramas, which can be viewed here: https://roundme.com/tour/666920/edit/2113151

What do you think would be of value for this project, some of my ideas are:

-Interactive simulation, e.g. change the sun position, experiment with the Pantheon as a sundial idea
-Time travel mode, where you can experience the Pantheon how it looked at various times in history.
-Interactive comment system where the public/academics can suggest improvements or historical inaccuracies
 

Looking forward to feedback and suggestions.

 

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What a marvelous plan.

I wonder what the interior (and the exterior) of the Pantheon looked like at the time of Hadrian. Do we even know? I assume there were religious ceremonies, possible sacrifices to the gods. I can only wonder what sculptures of the gods and deified emperors existed inside. What other riches were found in the interior? The interior and exterior colors were certainly vibrant and not marble white.

Good luck with your continued project.

 

guy also known as gaius 

Edited by guy
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We can never be certain of the interior on the Pantheon during ancient times, but there are few short references:
 

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 Cassius Dio (AD 155-235) describes the Pantheon in his writings when talking about the plan and buildings that Agrippa had built for Rome. Dio states:

[regarding] the building called the Pantheon[, i]t has this name, perhaps because it received among the images which decorated it the statues of many gods, including Mars and Venus; but my own opinion of the name is that, because of its vaulted roof, it resembles the heavens. Agrippa, for his part, wished to place a statue of Augustus there also and to bestow upon him the honour of having the structure named after him; but when the emperor wouldn't accept either honour, he placed in the temple itself a statue of the former Caesar and in the ante-room statues of Augustus and himself. This was done, not out of any rivalry or ambition on Agrippa's part to make himself equal to Augustus, but from his hearty loyalty to him and his constant zeal for the public good; hence Augustus, so far from censuring him for it, honoured them the more.

 

https://digitalworks.union.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1640&context=theses

 

Pliny the Elder (AD 23/24-79) wrote about the pre-Hadrian Pantheon:

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Diogenes of Athens adorned the Pantheon of Agrippa. The columns of the temple include some in the shape of Caryatids that are ranked with the very finest sculpture, as are the statues placed on the pediment although these are less celebrated because of their distance from the viewer).

Pliny the Elder, Encyclopedia 36.38

 

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[Cleopatra made a wager with Antony that she could spend 10,000,000 sesterces on a single banquet.] As arranged by Cleopatra, her servants placed a single cup before her, filled with a vinegar strong enough to dissolve even pearls. As Antony watched wondering how she could possibly win the wager with one cup, she detached an earring that held one of the most precious pearls on earth. She then dropped it in the cup and drank the liquefied gem. The story continues with the pearl in the other earring that she was wearing (the uneaten second helping, as it were): later, when Cleopatra was captured by Augustus, this pearl was cut in half to decorate the ears of Venus's statue in the Pantheon.

Pliny the Elder, Encyclopedia 9.120-1

http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-010.html

 

From Bronwen Riley's excellent "The Edge of the Empire: A Journey to Britannia from the Heart of Rome to Hadrian's Wall" comes this imaginary but possibly accurate description (p. 27):
 

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 The interior dazzles with coloured marbles and stones: porphyry from Egypt, serpentine from the Greek Peloponnese, giallo antico from Numidia (Tunisia). Here are statues of the imperial family and the gods, arranged in such a way that the beam of light pouring through the central oculus is said to highlight each one on their feast day,


 

 

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