London, August 1 (ANI): One of antiquity's most remarkable examples of engineering, The Pantheon - a giant temple in the heart of Rome - that was built by Emperor Hadrian 2000 years ago, may have acted as a colossal sundial, a new study has revealed.
A beam of light illuminated its enormous entrance at the precise moment that the emperor entered the building, scientists have found.
Constructed on Hadrian's orders and completed in AD128, the Pantheon's hemispherical dome is punctured by a 30ft-wide circular hole known as the 'oculus'.
It provides the interior of the building with its only source of natural light and allows in rain and - on rare occasions - snow.
Giulio Magli, a historian of ancient architecture from Milan Polytechnic, Italy, and Robert Hannah, a classics scholar from the University of Otago in New Zealand, have discovered that at precisely midday during the March equinox, a circular shaft of light shines through the oculus and illuminates the Pantheon's imposing entrance, reports the Telegraph.
The precise calculations made in the positioning and construction of the Pantheon mean that the size and shape of the beam perfectly matches, down to the last inch, a semicircular stone arch above the doorway.
"The emperor would have been illuminated as if by film studio lights," said Professor Magli.
"The Romans believed the relationship between the emperor and the heavens was at its closest during the equinoxes.
"It would have been a glorification of the power of the emperor, and of Rome itself," he added.
The study has been published in the journal Numen. (ANI)
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