In one of these there are two family groups both marked by the
presence of husband and wife. The tall young man on the left is
Drusus, who died B. C. 9, greatly mourned by the emperor and the
people. He wears a military cloak, as he has left his command
in Rhætia to attend the dedication of the altar. His wife, the
beautiful Antonia, stands immediately before him and their
conversation is interrupted by the warning gesture of the figure
between, who calls for silence lest they mar the sanctity of the
occasion. The child at their feet is either Germanicus or the later
emperor, Claudius. The group to the right may be Tiberius and his
wife Julia, whom he, much to his disgust, was compelled to marry
after the death of her former husband, Vipsanius Agrippa. The wife
may be the sister of Antonia in the first group. Then the husband
would be Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the grandfather of Nero.
Vipsanius Agrippa played a very important part in bringing about
the reign of peace and we should expect to find him among the
members of the imperial group. The central figure in another panel
has been recognized as Agrippa because of the distinction suggested
by the repose of the countenance. Some see here a sadness of
expression natural to one who has suffered much. He is preceded by
a young man who bears on his shoulder the official ax, for Agrippa
appears here as a high-priest. The boy grasping his toga is Lucius
Cæsar, his son, and the beautiful woman on his left may be Julia,
his wife, or Vipsania Agrippina, his daughter.
To this description we may add that such graceful and charming
sculptures, with their portraits of leading personages, could not have
been unveiled to the Roman public without awakening great admiration.
To the period of Augustus also belongs the foundation, at least, of the
Pantheon. His prime minister and son-in-law, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa,
erected a temple, twenty-seven years before Christ, at the north end of
the warm baths, which he had established here in the Campus Martius.
It was dedicated to several gods. It has often been repaired and
probably altered and enlarged by restorations. The emperors Hadrian,
Septimius Severus, and Caracalla all contributed to its preservation
and development. In antiquity the portico was reached by five steps,
which are now covered by the rising of the ground. Since A. D. 609 it
has been consecrated as a Christian church. Notwithstanding this, in
A. D. 663 Constans II, emperor at Constantinople, carried away to his
city the gilt-bronze tiles of the roof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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