Pantheʹon

The finest is that erected in Rome by Agrippa (son-in-law of Augustus). It is circular, 150 feet in diameter, and the same in height. It is now a church, with statues of heathen gods, and is called the Rotunda. In Paris the Pantheon was the church of St. Geneviève, built by Louis XV., finished 1790. Next year the Convention called it the Pantheon, and set it apart as the shrine of those Frenchmen whom their country wished to honour (“aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante”). (Greek, pantes theor, all the gods.)