Reveal the Pantheon temple mystery

After nearly 2,000 years, scientists are finding solutions to the strange structure of the ancient Roman temple, Pantheon.

Discover the 2,000-year-old temple mystery of the Roman Empire

An ongoing debate is that, is it a sundial? If the answer is correct, the size is 43 m, 84 m long, and 58 m wide, Pantheon will be the largest sundial on the planet.

The massive temple in the capital Rome was built from 118 to 126 under the reign of Hadrian , this is one of the largest buildings in ancient times completed in 128 AD.

Pantheon's façade is similar to Greek-style temples with 8 pillars of gray granite , Corinthian column top, white marble pillars. Next were three rows of pink marble pillars dividing the temple hall into three parts, in which the middle part led to the interior of the temple.

The center of the temple is a circular cylindrical building with a hemispherical dome with a diameter of 43.44m. This is the largest dome during 13 centuries, until Brunelleschi's cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral took this champion.

This dome is made of concrete mixed with lava rocks to reduce weight. On the top of the dome there is an empty circle of diameter 8.92m, which is the only place to bring natural light into the temple.

When visiting the temple, Robert Hannah of the University of Otago, Dunelin, New Zealand realized that Pantheon was not simply a temple.

In the two days of spring and autumn, in March and September, the sunlight shining through the hole will come to the right connection between the wall and the dome at the big door north of the temple.

At noon on spring or feces, sunlight will shine through the eyes of the temple to a room above the entrance.

A room above the entrance allowed a small portion of the bright image to shine into the courtyard of the lobby. There will only be a short time of year to see sunlight if the main doors of the temple are closed.

Hannah didn't think it was a coincidence. An empty hemisphere with a hole in the top is a type of solar clock used to calculate the time of the Romans. Although in this case, it is used to represent the time of a year.

When Pantheon's dome is quite flat (smooth) on the outside, it makes a perfect hemisphere inside.'This is a feature of a calculated design,' Hannah said.

Pantheon means ' home of the gods ', it is the dome of the building that symbolizes the sky, where the gods reign, according to the beliefs of the Romans. Hannah thinks that, by marking the date of the division, Pantheon will be the place to bring the Roman emperors to the kingdom of the gods.

James Evan, an astronomer historian at Puget Sound University in Washington, said: 'The architect of the Pantheon temple must have knowledge of connecting the symbol between the universe and the Roman empire, between the sun and the emperor. . ' However, he does not believe this hypothesis has been elucidated because there are no signs in Pantheon related to the sundial.

'It is part of the culture, the Pantheon builders do not need to explain their work,' Hannah rejected Evan's opinion.