pantheon (pantheon)

[= F. panthéon = Sp. panteon = Pg. pantheon = It. panteon, Fimary three ons because of christian church, having been dedicated about 607 by Boniface IV. to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs. It is now known as Santa Maria dell a Rotonda, from its circular plan. Its external diameter is 188 feet, and it is covered by a hemispherical dome 142 feet 6 inches in span, the entire height being about 141 feet. It is lighted by a circular orifice, 26 feet in diameter, at the summit of the dome. It has in front a noble octastyle portico of Corinthian columns, 103 feet wide. See cut in next column, and cut under octastyle. 4263 A B Plan of the Pantheon of Agrippa, now the Church of Sta. Maria dell a Rotonda, Rome. (Adapted from Durand and Baumeister.) A, the rotunda; B, the portico. (The light shaded parts represent existing foundations of other parts of the ancient baths.) 2. All the divinities, collectively, worshiped by a people: as, one of the divinities of the Greek pantheon. One temple of pantheon - that is to say, all goddes. J. Udall , On Rev. xvi. 3. [ cap.] A work treating of the whole body of divinities of a people: as, Tooke's " Pantheon. " -4. [ cap.] A memorial structure in honor of the great men of a people, or filling some such purpose; especially, such a building serving as a mausoleum, as the Pantheon (church of Ste. Geneviève) in Paris. Westminster Abbey is often called the Pantheon of the British. panther (pan'ther), n. [ Black Panther (a variety of Felis pard us). pantler