PAN 
345 
PAN 
The “ Piazza della Rotonda,” or Square of the Pan- 
theon, is adorned with a fountain and an obelifk, and ter- 
minated by the portico of Agrippa. This noble colonnade 
confifts of a double range of Corinthian pillars of red gra¬ 
nite. Between the middle columns, a paifage opens to 
the brazen portals, which, as they unfold, expofe to view 
a circular hall of immenfe extent, crowned with a lofty 
dome, and lighted folely from above. It is paved and 
lined with marble. Its cornice of white marble is nip- 
ported by fixteen columns, and as many pilafters of giotto 
antico : in the circumference there are eight niches, and 
between thefe niches are eight altars, adorned each with 
two pillars of lefsfize, but the fame materials. The niches 
were anciently occupied by llatues of the great deities 5 
the intermediate altars ferved as pedeftals for the inferior 
powers. The proportions of this temple are admirable 
for the effeft intended to be produced, its height being 
equal to its diameter ; and its dome not an oval, but an 
exaft hemifphere. The Pantheon is the mod noble and 
perfect fpecimen of Roman art and magnificence which 
time has lpared, or the ancients could have wiflied to 
tranfmit to pofterity. It has ferved in fa& as a lefl'on and 
a model to fucceeding generations ; and to it Conftanti- 
nople is indebted for Santa Sophia, and to it Rome, or ra¬ 
ther the uni verfe, owes the unrivalled dome of the Vatican. 
Upon the whole, this is the moft ancient edifice that now 
remains in a ftate of full and almoft perfeft prefervation. 
It was converted into a church by pope Boniface IV. 
about the year 609; and fince that period has attra&ed 
the attention and enjoyed the patronage of various pon¬ 
tiffs. Although the Pantheon probably owes its prefer¬ 
vation to its having been converted into a church ; yet, 
leaving to it its principal character as a temple, it feems 
better adapted to the purpofes of a maufoleum ; and it 
has a&ually been in fome degree appropriated to this 
ufe; for it contains at prefent the tombs, or rather the 
buffs, of feveral diltinguifhed charafters; among which are 
the celebrated antiquary Winckelman, Metaftafio, Mengs, 
Pouffin, Hannibal Caracci, and Raffaello himfelf. Two 
muficians alfo, Corelli and Sacchini, have been admitted 
to the honours of the Pantheon. The dedication of this 
church on the iff of November, in the year 830, gave oc- 
cafion to the inftitution of the feltivai of All Saints. 
2. There was alfo at Rome another Pantheon, dedicated 
to Minerva, as the goddefs of medicine. It was in the 
form of a decagon, and the diftance from one angle to 
another meafured 22-J. Between the angles there were 
nine chapels of a round figure, defigned for fo many dei¬ 
ties : and over the gate there was a ffatue of Minerva. 
3. The Pantheon of Athens was in many refpedls little 
inferior to that of Rome, built by Agrippa. The Greek 
Chriffians converted it into a church, dedicated to the 
Virgin, under the name of Panegia. The Turks changed 
it into a mofque. 
4. The Pantheon of Nifmes, in France, was a tem¬ 
ple in that city, in which were twelve niches, for fta- 
tues, fuppofed to have been deftined for the twelve great 
gods. 
5. In the Efcurial (Spain) is a magnificent chapel, 
called Pantheon, thirty-five feet in diameter, and thirty- 
eight high from the pavement, which is of marble and 
jafper inlayed. The whole iniide of the chapel is of black 
marble, except the luthern, and fome ornaments of jafper 
and red marble. In this chapel are depofited the bodies 
of the kings and queens: there are only places made for 
twenty-fix, eight of which are already filled. 
6. As for the Pantheon built in Oxford-ftreet, London, 
about fifty years ago, fee the article London, vol. xiii. 
P- 575 - 
PANTHER,/ [from the Greek truv, all, and 9 »i§, a 
wtld beaft.J The pard, fo called becaufeit was fuppofed to 
poflefs the ferocity of all beads. SeeFELis pardus.—Pan, 
or the univerfal, is painted with a goat’s face, about his 
iioulders a panther's fkin. Peacham. 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1247. 
An it pleafe your majefty, 
To hunt the panther and the hart with me, 
With horn and hound. Shahefpeare. 
The panther's fpeckled hide 
Flow’d o’er his armour with an eafy pride. Pope. 
PANTHER CREE'IC, a river of Kentucky, which 
runs into the Green River in lat. 37. 29. N. Ion. 84. 
45. W. 
PAN'THERINE TA'BLES, among the Romans, ta¬ 
bles made of citron-wood, which were held in fuch high 
efteem, as to equal the value not only of filver and gold, 
but likewife of pearls. They had this name from their 
being fpotted after the manner of panthers, 
PANTICAPtE'UM, in ancient geography, now Kerche, 
a town of Taurica Cherfonefus, built by the Milefians, 
and governed fome time by its own laws, and afterwards 
fubdued by the kings of Bofphorus. It waas, according 
to Strabo, the capital of the European Bofphorus. Mith- 
ridates the Great died there. 
PANTIC'APES, a river of European Scythia, which 
falls into the Boryithenes ; fuppofed to be the Samara of 
the moderns. 
PANTICO'SA, a town of Spain, in Arragon : thirteen 
miles north-north-eaft of Jaca. 
PAN'TICUM, or Pantichium, in ancient geography, 
a town of Alia, in Bithynia, between Chalcedon and 
Libyffa, according to the Itinerary of Antonine. 
PANTI'KA, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Natolia, on 
the north-eaft coaft of the fea of Marmora : twelve miles 
fouth-ealf of Conftantinople. 
PANTILE, J'. A gutter-tile. SeePENTiLE.—It is im- 
poffible for people to receive any great benefit from let¬ 
ters, where they are obliged to go to a lhard, or an oyfter- 
fliell, for information ; and where knowledge is confined 
to a. pantile. Bryant's Anal. Anc. Myth. 
PANTIN, a town of France, in the department of 
Paris: three miles eaft-north-eaft of Paris. 
PAN'TING,/ Palpitation.—If I am to lofe by fight 
the foft pantings which I have always felt when I heard 
your voice; pull out thefe eyes, before they lead me to 
be ungrateful. Tatler. 
PAN'TINGLY, adv. With palpitation: 
She heav’d the name of father 
Paxitingly forth, as if it prefs’d her heart. Shahefpeare. 
PANTIPIO'LIS, a town of India, on this fide the 
Ganges, between Berderis and Adirama. 
PANTLER,/ [panetier, Fr.] The officer in a great 
family, who keeps the bread. Hanmer. —He would have 
made a good pantler, he would have chipped bread well. 
Shahefpeare. , 
When my old wife liv’d. 
She was both pantler, butler, cook. Shahefpeare. 
PANTO'FLE, / [ pautonjle , Fr. pantofala, Ital.] A 
flipper.—What pains doth that good holy father take, to 
lift up his foot fo oft to have his pantofie killed ! Harmar's 
Tr. of Beza's Serm. —Melpomene has on her feet, her 
high cothurn or tragick pantofies of red velvet and gold, 
befet with pearls. Peacham. 
PANTOGRAPH, /'. [from the Gr. 7rav and y£cc(pu.~] 
A mathematical inftrument, contrived to copy all forts 
of drawings and defigns. 
PANTOM'ETER, / [van and pernor, Gr.] An inftru¬ 
ment for meafuring all forts of angles, elevations, and 
diftances. 
PANTOM'ETRY, / The art of meafuring. 
PANTOMIME, /. [from the Gr. irxt, vratroi;, all, 
and jM.ip.0?, a mimic.] One who has the power of univerfal 
mimicry. One who can imitate all kinds of a&ions and 
charatters by figns and geftures, without fpeaking.—The 
pantomimes made a part in the theatrical entertainments 
of the ancients; their chief employment was to exprefs, 
in geftures and aftion, whatever the chorus lung, chang- 
4 T ing 
