Was the Pantheon a sundial?

[Ursus]

HAS the grand Roman Pantheon been keeping a secret for nearly 2000 years? An expert in ancient timekeeping thinks so, arguing that it acts as a colossal sundial.

 

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2012...al-sundial.html

[CiceroD]

Im not too surprised.

 

The Romans were always functional-minded.

Isn't it interesting that the Romans had something comparable to Stonehenge.

I mean that it performed a similar function.

Edited February 8, 2009 by CiceroD

[Northern Neil]

Im not too surprised.

 

The Romans were always functional-minded.

Isn't it interesting that the Romans had something comparable to Stonehenge.

I mean that it performed a similar function.

I wonder if this can be applied to many public and ancient buildings. I think this idea is entirely plausible - to the point that, if you were able to put this idea to a real Roman, they would possibly say it was obvious. Like a church or a town hall with a clock, I suspect that the calendar function of the building was subsidiary, not unique, and barely remarked upon when the Pantheon was built. By the second century, much astronomical mapping had already been done and the angle of the sun at midday at various times of year in central Italy was probably a matter of record. Thus, a reasonably competent architect could plan a building with these properties relatively easily.

 

I am not dismissing this as inconsequential - far from it, I think it is fascinating indeed. But to the Romans themselves it was probably a minor curiosity and nothing more.

[CiceroD]

Yes how did the Romans determine which hour it was?

Do have any examples of Roman sundials?

 

I know that they divided the daylight into 12 hours.

but with the difference between daylight in summer and winter how would they have marked off the graduations?

[Faustus]

Im not too surprised.

 

The Romans were always functional-minded.

Isn't it interesting that the Romans had something comparable to Stonehenge.

I mean that it performed a similar function.

I wonder if this can be applied to many public and ancient buildings. I think this idea is entirely plausible - to the point that, if you were able to put this idea to a real Roman, they would possibly say it was obvious. Like a church or a town hall with a clock, I suspect that the calendar function of the building was subsidiary, not unique, and barely remarked upon when the Pantheon was built. By the second century, much astronomical mapping had already been done and the angle of the sun at midday at various times of year in central Italy was probably a matter of record. Thus, a reasonably competent architect could plan a building with these properties relatively easily.

 

I am not dismissing this as inconsequential - far from it, I think it is fascinating indeed. But to the Romans themselves it was probably a minor curiosity and nothing more.

The Pantheon is not actually aligned true north and south, it is off by about 4-degrees westerly, so a line drawn through the center point of the dome (oculus) out through the north entrance would point to 356-degrees on the compass. That means that at noon the sunlight through the oculus on the dome wall surface would be above the main entry door, and be a little elongated to the right, and a little reduced on the left. HERE'S a photo showing that. The photographer must have waited for as near to high noon as possible for the perfect effect, which is skewed a little.

 

Since the domed section was added as a remodeling project, the alignment of the original existing section played into the final version.

[GhostOfClayton]

This raises interesting issues about how

[Melvadius]

There is a linked thread discussing a newspaper article on this topic here.

[Faustus]

This raises interesting issues about how

Edited January 10, 2012 by Faustus