this assignment builds on the first formal analysis, adding a historical dimension to your argument. Using the
readings and materials we have provided, study the Pantheon closely, and build an original and compelling
thesis about some aspect of it. Unlike the first formal analysis, in this assignment, your observations about its
formal and spatial qualities must be interwoven with historical evidence. This could include ideas about Roman
religion, politics, technology, architecture, urbanism, or the patron or architect, to give a few examples. For
instance, you might observe that the monumental columns place a person in a space scaled to the empire, but
this would not yet be a historical observation. Knowing that the shafts are made of Egyptian granite and the
capitals of Greek marble might help you begin to forge a thesis about the ambition to create a building that
spoke to Rome as the inheritor of earlier Mediterranean civilizations.
Sample Solution