15 Hadrian's Pantheon and Tivoli Retreat

By Diana E E Kleiner | Roman Architecture Lecture 15 of 24

Lecture Description

Professor Kleiner features the architecture built in and around Rome during the reign of Hadrian. The lecture begins with the Temple of Venus and Roma, a Greek-style temple constructed near the Colosseum in Rome, which may have been designed by Hadrian himself. Professor Kleiner then turns to the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all the gods that combines the marble porch and pediment of a traditional Greco-Roman temple with a vast concrete cylindrical drum, hemispherical dome, and central oculus. The porch serves to conceal the circular shape from view, but upon entering the structure the visitor is impressed by the massive interior space and theatrical play of light. The Pantheon represents the culmination of the Roman quest towards an architecture that shapes and dramatizes interior space. Professor Kleiner next discusses the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, a sprawling complex in which the emperor re-created buildings and works of art he observed during his empire-wide travels. The lecture concludes with a brief overview of the Mausoleum of Hadrian (the Castel Sant’Angelo), a round tomb that refers back to the Mausoleum of Augustus and served as the last resting place for Hadrian and the succeeding Antonine dynasty.

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the great buildings and engineering marvels of Rome and its empire, with an emphasis on urban planning and individual monuments and their decoration, including mural painting. While architectural developments in Rome, Pompeii, and Central Italy are highlighted, the course also provides a survey of sites and structures in what are now North Italy, Sicily, France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, and North Africa. The lectures are illustrated with over 1,500 images, many from Professor Kleiner’s personal collection.

Course Index

1. Introduction to Roman Architecture
2. The Founding of Rome and the Beginnings of Urbanism in Italy
3. Technology and Revolution in Roman Architecture
4. Civic, Commercial and Religious Buildings of Pompeii
5. Houses and Villas of Pompeii
6. Habitats at Herculaneum and Early Roman Interior Decoration
7. Painting Palaces and Villas in the First Century A.D.
8. Exploring Special Subjects on Pompeian Walls
9. Augustus Assembles Rome
10. Roman Tombs
11. Nero and His Architectural Legacy
12. The Colosseum and Contemporary Architecture in Rome
13. Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill
14. Civic Architecture in Rome under Trajan
15. Hadrian’s Pantheon and Tivoli Retreat
16. Roman Life in Ostia, the Port of Rome
17. The Baths of Caracalla
18. Roman North Africa: Timgad and Leptis Magna
19. Baroque Phenomenon in Roman Architecture
20. The Rebirth of Athens
21. Architecture of the Western Roman Empire
22. The Tetrarchic Renaissance
23. Rome of Constantine and a New Rome
24. Discovering the Roman Provinces and Designing a Roman City

• Filmed: Spring 2009
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• Source: Yale Open Courses