title: Van Halen

text: The band's appearance on the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards fueled reunion speculation. But several weeks after the awards show, it was discovered that Roth was out of Van Halen again. Roth released a statement in which he apologized to the media and the fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a publicity stunt by Van Halen and manager Ray Danniels. The next day, Eddie and Alex released their own statement, claiming they had been completely honest with Roth and had never suggested he was guaranteed to be the next lead singer.


title: Van Halen

text: Eddie later explained (in regard to the MTV Video Music Awards appearance) that he had initially been embarrassed by Roth's antics while on camera behind Beck, who was giving an acceptance speech for the award that Van Halen had presented to him. Immediately following this, the band had been taken to a backstage press conference where press queries about a reunion tour were met with Eddie saying that he needed a hip replacement and would have to record an entire new studio album before any tour. In private Roth told Eddie to avoid talking about negative things like his hip and the two almost came to blows, thereby shattering any chance of a full-scale reunion.


title: Van Halen

text: Van Halen's next lead singer was Gary Cherone, frontman of the then-defunct Boston-based band Extreme, a group which had enjoyed some popular success in the early 1990s. The result was the album "Van Halen III". Many songs were longer and more experimental than Van Halen's earlier work. It was a notable contrast from their previous material, with more focus on ballads than traditional rock songs ("How Many Say I", with Eddie on vocals). Sales were poor by the band's standards, only reaching a Gold certification, despite the album peaking at No. 4 on the U.S. charts. However, "Van Halen III" did produce the hit "Without You", and another album track, "Fire in the Hole", appeared on the "Lethal Weapon 4" soundtrack. The album was followed by a tour. The "III" Tour saw Van Halen playing in new countries, including first ever visits to Australia and New Zealand. "Without You" acquired No. 1 place on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1998, the 13th song of theirs to do so, and thus making them the band with the most Mainstream Rock No. 1s.


title: Van Halen

text: Shortly afterwards, Van Halen returned to the studio and in early 1999, they started work on a new album. For the sessions, they brought on Danny Kortchmar to produce the scrapped album. Working titles of songs included "Left for Dead", "River Wide", "Say Uncle", "You Wear it Well", "More Than Yesterday", "I Don't Miss You ... Much", "Love Divine", and "From Here, Where Do We Go?", however more than 20 songs were rumored to have been written. The project was never released, with Cherone leaving the band amicably in November 1999. Citing musical differences, it is likely "III"'s poor sales and critical reception had a big impact. None of the material from these sessions has ever been released, and in fact the band released no new material until three new songs written and recorded with Hagar were included on the 2004 "Best of Both Worlds" compilation. Lyrics that Cherone had written for the "Van Halen III" follow up would be used in his next project with Tribe of Judah.


title: Van Halen

text: Cherone later stated that he believed if he and the band had toured first and then recorded an album they might have creatively gelled more and the album would have turned out better.


title: Van Halen

text: Touring with Cherone had proven disappointing in terms of attendance. Eddie later admitted that "the powers that be" (Warner Bros.) had forced his hand in parting with Cherone. Unlike with the previous two singers, there was reportedly no bad blood behind the breakup, and Cherone remained in contact and on good terms with Van Halen. As when Hagar left, speculation resumed on a Roth reunion.


title: Van Halen

text: Eddie recovered from his hip surgery in November 1999, but from 2000 to early 2004 no official statements were made by Van Halen and no music was released. However, information about members past and present trickled in. The Van Halen brothers continued writing at 5150 Studios, Cherone recorded an album and toured with new band Tribe of Judah. One of the songs that Cherone had written for the scrapped second album with Van Halen, titled "Left For Dead", would see its lyrics set to a new musical arrangement with Tribe of Judah.


title: Van Halen

text: Responding to speculation that he had been approached to replace Cherone, David Coverdale said, "I called a mutual friend and said, 'Tell Eddie I had nothing to do with this.' It just got ridiculous. I've heard that they were going to approach me, but since I left Purple I've always done my own thing. Why would I join anybody else?"


title: Van Halen

text: In 2000, the band would reunite briefly with David Lee Roth attempting to do a new album, only for disputes with the singer to ultimately abort these plans. The recorded demos would be among the ones reworked into new songs on 2012's "A Different Kind of Truth". The band also tried to just schedule some concerts with Roth at a later date.


title: Van Halen

text: In the summer of 2002, Roth and Hagar teamed up in the "Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll" tour (also known as the 'Sans-Halen' or 'Sam & Dave' Tour). The tour, with both singers headlining, attracted media and audience fascination because it seemed more improbable than even a Van Halen tour with Roth or Hagar. It drew large crowds and featured no opening acts, Roth and Hagar alternating as the first act. Roth contrasted his personality with Hagar's: "He's the kind of guy you go out with to split a bottle with a friend. I'm the kind of guy you go out with if you want to split your friend with a bottle." Anthony guested with Hagar's band, the Waboritas, numerous times and sometimes even sang lead vocals. During performances, Hagar would tease Anthony by asking, "Do the brothers know you're here?" Anthony never played with Roth. Cherone appeared on occasion. Hagar released a live album ("Hallelujah"), featuring vocals by Anthony and Cherone, and a documentary DVD, "Long Road to Cabo", about touring with Roth. While the two singers promoted the tour and publicly claimed mutual respect, rumors of bitter acrimony and mutual loathing swirled. The allegations were later supported by backstage video, which showed the Roth and Hagar camps maintaining strict separation.


title: Van Halen

text: Next, Hagar joined with Joe Satriani and Journey guitarist Neal Schon to form a side project, Planet Us, with Michael Anthony and Deen Castronovo (also of Journey) on drums. The band recorded just two songs and played live a few times before dissolving when Hagar and Anthony rejoined Van Halen.


title: Van Halen

text: On July 4, 2004, Roth performed with one of the world's most popular orchestras, the Boston Pops, at United States' annual "Pops Goes the Fourth" celebration in Boston. Hagar remained active, releasing five albums and creating his own merchandising brand "Cabo Wabo", which lends its name to the line of tequila he formerly owned, as well as his franchise of cantinas. He reunited with Montrose in 2003 and 2005 for a few performances and maintained contact with Anthony, often playing with him. With Van Halen inactive, Anthony set up a website and worked on merchandising projects such as his signature Yamaha bass and range of hot sauces. He became involved with the annual music industry NAMM Show.


title: Van Halen

text: Anthony had repeatedly contacted Hagar regarding a reunion, detailing how the attempts to do the same with Roth never worked out. Eventually, Hagar decided to call Alex to spend a day together with him, the two got along and got interested in reuniting on stage. In late March 2004, Van Halen and Hagar announced that Hagar would reunite with the band for a new compilation release and a summer concert tour of the U.S.


title: Van Halen

text: In July 2004, Van Halen released "The Best of Both Worlds", a double CD compilation featuring three new songs with Hagar: "It's About Time", "Up for Breakfast", and "Learning to See". These new songs were credited to Hagar/Van Halen/Van Halen, which was unusual since normally the entire lineup, which also included Michael Anthony, would be credited. However, the performance was credited to the entire band. Anthony later revealed in interviews that Eddie had in fact not wanted him to be a part of the reunion, with him only joining at Hagar's insistence. The new songs had already been recorded, with Eddie playing the bass parts himself instead, and Anthony only provided backing vocals for the three tracks. No songs with Cherone from "Van Halen III" were included. It was certified platinum in the US in August 2004.


title: Van Halen

text: The Summer 2004 tour grossed almost US$55 million, and Pollstar listed Van Halen in the top 10 grossing tours of 2004. Professional reviews of the tour, however, proved to be mixed. On some shows, Eddie's son Wolfgang came onstage and played guitar with his father during "316", a song dedicated to his son, taking its name from his March 16 date of birth. During the later stages of the tour, stories of Eddie being drunk began to surface along with fan-shot video footage of poor playing. At the band's final show of the tour, in Tucson, Eddie smashed one of his guitars at the end of the show.


title: Van Halen

text: After the tour, things broke down. At first Hagar stated he had yet to decide what he would be doing with Van Halen, although he was still an official member of the band. Soon after, however, both Hagar and Anthony admitted that Eddie had problems with alcohol during the tour that affected everyone involved. Hagar stated that he was "done with Van Halen" and wished that everyone would have "taken it more seriously." Despite this, Eddie later described himself as "satisfied" with the tour.


title: Van Halen

text: After the tour ended, Hagar returned to his solo band the Waboritas, and Anthony appeared with him on tour occasionally. The band quickly faded from view after Hagar left again. In December 2005, Anthony revealed in an interview with Mark & Brian that he had not talked with the Van Halens and was unsure of their plans.


title: Van Halen

text: Rumors of a Roth reunion re-emerged and on January 3, 2006, Roth explained during an interview that he had spoken to Alex Van Halen the previous week and a reunion was "inevitable." However, he also said that Eddie Van Halen was "off in his own little world" recently. When asked if any problems occurred with Hagar during the 2004 tour Eddie answered, "Sammy is Sammy, and for the most part that's just fine." Roth persisted with suggestions of a reunion, saying, "People want the reunion," and "No one will pay respect to what any of us do [musically] until we get the reunion out of the way." In May 2006, he told Billboard.com, "There's contact between the two camps."


title: Van Halen

text: On June 3, Anthony began a successful tour with Hagar billed as the Other Half (a reference to them being half of Van Halen with the other half being Eddie/Alex), with Anthony singing lead vocals sometimes. Meanwhile, on June 19 the Van Halen brothers jumped onstage with Kenny Chesney at The Home Depot Center performing "Jump" and "You Really Got Me". This unusual performance was their first onstage since the 2004 tour. This was followed by another Eddie performance on July 19, 2006, at the House of Petals in Los Angeles, playing new material. He followed this with an announcement on July 27, 2006, that some of his new music would be released on the soundtrack for the pornographic film "Sacred Sin".


title: Van Halen

text: In March 2006, Anthony spoke to Japanese rock magazine "Burrn!", claiming the brothers did not want him on the 2004 reunion tour, although Hagar did (and would not play without Anthony), but he had to agree to reduced royalties and end absolutely all association with the band after the tour in terms of rights to using the name to promote himself. It was in this same interview he admitted he was not involved in the new songs on "Best of Both Worlds" and only recorded three tracks for "Van Halen III".


title: Van Halen

text: Anthony was replaced as bass player by Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen, in 2006. On September 8, 2006, Howard Stern's live interview with Eddie broke the band's long silence. Eddie said he was willing to reunite with Roth and revealed a solo album in the works. Eddie confirmed that Wolfgang had replaced Anthony on bass; Wolfgang had played guitar alongside his father during Eddie's guitar solo on some 2004 concert dates. When queried about the Other Half tour, Eddie said Anthony could "do what he wants" now. This shocked and offended many fans. In November, Eddie's spokesperson, Janie Liszewski, claimed the Van Halen family was writing/rehearsing for a summer 2007 tour, which "Billboard" magazine's website shortly confirmed. However, the Van Halen website remained in the state it had been in since the Hagar reunion.


title: Van Halen

text: On December 11, 2006, Eddie stated to "Guitar World" magazine that Roth had been directly invited to rejoin the band. However, on December 28, Roth announced that he had not talked to Eddie in two years, and a reunion with Van Halen could result in a "Jerry Springer-style fight."


title: Van Halen

text: In January 2007, Van Halen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Van Halen brothers, Anthony, Hagar, and Roth were inducted, though only Hagar and Anthony appeared at the induction ceremony on behalf of the group. Eddie Van Halen was in rehab at the time, so neither he nor Alex attended the ceremony. Velvet Revolver had been slated to perform You Really Got Me with Roth on lead vocals, however Roth wanted to perform Jump and the band hadn't rehearsed that song, so Roth elected to not attend the ceremony at all. "Billboard" announced on January 24, 2007, that Van Halen would reunite with Roth for a U.S. tour. This was confirmed shortly after on the official Van Halen website.


title: Van Halen

text: The Van Halen News Desk announced on February 15, 2007, that a Van Halen "Best Of (1978–1984)", a single-disc compilation of the Roth era, would be released by April 3. Shortly after, information arrived in a flood. Various sources claimed the tour was shut down as was the new "Best Of" CD. On March 8, 2007, Eddie announced on Van Halen's website that he was in rehab. Along with the announcement, a change was made to the website. The logo at the top of the page changed to the original Van Halen logo from their 1978 debut album.


title: Van Halen

text: As the band's Hall of Fame induction drew near, media focus shifted to that. Velvet Revolver would induct the band and speak on their behalf. On March 12, 2007, the band was inducted at a ceremony held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Anthony and Hagar were the only inductees in attendance. Velvet Revolver performed "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Their performance was universally panned by Van Halen fans because of Scott Weiland's poor vocal performance and Slash's inability to even correctly play the opening main guitar riff. Anthony and Hagar performed "Why Can't This Be Love" with Paul Shaffer. This performance was also panned by Van Halen fans for the poor musicianship of and the weird arrangement performed by the backing band. At a post-induction press conference, Hagar said he would love to work with Van Halen again but that the Van Halens should tour with Roth first.


title: Van Halen

text: On April 21, 2007, Eddie served as an Honorary Race Official for the NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway. On May 24, he posted a note to the Van Halen website confirming that he had completed rehab successfully.


title: Van Halen

text: After nearly 10 months of speculation and rumors, Van Halen (and Roth separately via his own website) said that the band would be going on a tour of North America. Roth claimed in the press release that, "the idea is that this will continue on and on and on" and also that a world tour and a new album were both in the works.


title: Van Halen

text: Press reaction to the reunion was largely warm, but the re-designed website sparked controversy when Anthony was removed from images of old album artwork. The album covers were restored to their original condition a day later without a word. Wolfgang later explained in 2020 that the omission of Anthony on the website was a choice made by the band's marketing team and was done without consent of the band. Once the band discovered the condition of the website, they ordered it be reverted to its original state. The Fall 2007 tour was originally 25 dates, but was extended into 2008 with a second leg.


title: Van Halen

text: Van Halen started their new tour on September 27, 2007, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Playing to sellout crowds, the tour generated positive reviews. Amid rumors of Eddie being back in rehab, multiple dates of the tour were postponed. The official reason was the need for medical procedures to be run on Eddie.


title: Van Halen

text: On March 5, 2008, "World Entertainment Weekly" to CBS News reported that the reason the tour had been interrupted was Eddie's needing to reenter rehab. The report also indicated that it had been a "furious backstage bust-up in Florida with his 17-year-old son and bandmate Wolfgang" which had motivated Eddie to seek help once again.


title: Van Halen

text: In response to rumors about Eddie being back in rehab Valerie Bertinelli said that "he is not in rehab." She did not, however, say if he had recently been in rehab, stating only that he was not currently, a statement echoed by Wolfgang during the 2008 Kids Choice Awards. Eventually, the tour started back up on April 17 at the Reno Events Center in Nevada.


title: Van Halen

text: The tour ended on June 2, 2008, at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the show Roth stated multiple times that this would not be their final show and that they would "see everyone next time." At this show the arena sign was altered to read "VAN HALEN ARENA". According to the Van Halen News Desk, the reunion tour with Roth was the highest grossing in the band's history, raking in almost $93 million.


title: Van Halen

text: In an interview with "Guitar World", posted on November 12, 2008, about the making of his upcoming new EVH Wolfgang guitar from Fender, Eddie said, in regard to new Van Halen music, "I'll be making music 'til the day I die. I've done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming. I can't tell you exactly when right now. Wolfgang is in the 12th grade and he needs to graduate first. Then I'm getting married in June. We'll pick it up after that." Eddie underwent surgery on his left hand in 2009, following some treatment for arthritis as he felt pain in his fingers during the 2007 tour. In an interview with "Glide Magazine" appearing in the May 2010 issue, Dweezil Zappa commented that Eddie had played him "new stuff from his record." It was not clear from the interview if the music was intended for a new Van Halen record.


title: Van Halen

text: In August 2010, Warner/Chappell Music extended its administration agreements with Van Halen (specifically Eddie and Alex Van Halen). Under the agreement, Warner/Chappell will continue to administer their catalog of works. This press release also stated that the group was in the studio recording an album with Roth, that was due for release in 2011.


title: Van Halen

text: Van Halen entered the Henson Studio C with producer John Shanks on January 17, 2011. Shanks posted on his Twitter account that he was in the studio with the band and posted a picture of one of Eddie's signature amps. The new album would be the first full-length Van Halen album since 1998's "Van Halen III" and the first new music from the band since the three new songs from the 2004's "Best of Both Worlds" compilation. It would also be the first Van Halen album to feature Eddie's son, Wolfgang, on the bass in place of Anthony. This would also be the first full-length album to feature Roth on vocals in over 27 years, and the first new material with him in 15 years, since the two new songs with him on the "Best Of – Volume I". It would also be the first full-length album from Roth since 2003's "Diamond Dave".


title: Van Halen

text: On June 16, 2011, Creed, Alter Bridge and Tremonti guitarist Mark Tremonti claimed that he had been invited to 5150 studios and that Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen performed the album live, in its entirety, for Tremonti and Creed touring guitarist, Eric Friedman. Producer/engineer Ross Hogarth claimed on July 31, 2011, that "[t]he whole Van Halen record has been recorded." On September 5, 2011, it was reported that the mixing on the new album had been completed in mid-August, and production had progressed to the mastering stage.


title: Van Halen

text: Their official website was updated on December 26, 2011, announcing that tickets for their 2012 tour would be available starting January 10, 2012. On January 5, 2012, Van Halen played an intimate club gig at New York City's Cafe Wha? which received widespread praise from media and fans. On January 10, the upcoming album's first single, titled "Tattoo", made its premiere on radio stations. The following week, the single debuted at No. 67 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Chart. The band's new studio album from Interscope Records, titled "A Different Kind of Truth", was released on February 7, 2012. It was Van Halen's first studio release since 1998 and first with Roth on lead vocals since 1984.


title: Van Halen

text: On February 8, 2012, Van Halen performed a "friends and family" dress rehearsal at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The show featured many classics as well as several new songs from their latest release, "A Different Kind of Truth", which was released officially the day before in the United States. Despite Van Halen's long lay-off between studio albums, "A Different Kind of Truth" sold 188,000 copies during its first six days of release, debuting at No. 2 on the "Billboard" 200 Albums Chart. There was an overwhelmingly positive critical and fan response to "A Different Kind of Truth", which helped to fuel the album's long run in the upper reaches of the U.S. "Billboard" 200 Album Chart; additionally, it earned the band its highest-ever charting album in the United Kingdom (debuting at No. 6).


title: Van Halen

text: Despite an average ticket price of approximately $150, Van Halen's "A Different Kind of Truth Tour" proved to be a commercial success as well, with nearly all U.S. arena shows "either sold-out, or close to it." Critically, the band received mostly positive reviews, particularly when performing throughout the U.S. Northeast and West Coast. R&B legends Kool and the Gang were hand-picked by frontman Roth to open the first two legs of Van Halen's tour.


title: Van Halen

text: On May 17, 2012, "Rolling Stone" reported that Van Halen was postponing all tour dates after their show of June 26 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, the Van Halen News Desk revealed that the band's members were in good health, had not been arguing with each other, and that the reason for the postponed tour dates was to take a break after 18 months of non-stop recording and touring as well as to allow the group the opportunity to enhance its concert presentation before resuming the tour in the late summer of 2012. However, the postponed dates were officially listed as cancelled shortly thereafter.


title: Van Halen

text: On August 30, 2012, Eddie was diagnosed with diverticulitis and underwent surgery postponing the shows in Japan initially scheduled for November 2012. On April 20, 2013, the Roth-fronted Van Halen played its first show outside North America since 1984, and their first in Australia since 1998, at the Stone Festival in Sydney. This was followed by one show each in Tokyo and Nagoya, and two in Osaka, from June 18 to 26.


title: Van Halen

text: In February 2015, Van Halen fansite VHND.com announced that Van Halen would be releasing their first ever live album with original vocalist David Lee Roth, "Tokyo Dome Live in Concert" on March 31, 2015. The album featured performances from their June 23, 2013 performance at the Tokyo Dome. It was also reported that the band would be releasing newly remastered versions of their 1978 debut and "1984" on CD, digital, and vinyl. In an interview the same month, when asked about the status of Van Halen, Eddie responded by saying "I'd love to make a studio record. Depends on everybody's timing. I don't know what Dave Lee Roth is up to now. I don't know if he's living in New York or Japan or wherever he is."


title: Van Halen

text: On March 24, 2015, Van Halen announced a 39 date tour with Roth to take place from July to October 2015 across North America. In April 2015, Eddie told "Rolling Stone" that the band would "probably hunker down and do a studio record" after their tour.


title: Van Halen

text: On September 12, 2019, Van Halen announced that they would be releasing a box set of the Japanese singles, which was released on November 1, 2019. On September 30, 2019, while promoting an upcoming 2020 solo concert, Roth expressed uncertainty towards the band's future, stating "I think Van Halen is finished." However, Hagar indicated in a May 2020 interview that he believed otherwise claiming "Until Ed or Alex Van Halen die, they’re not finished." He expressed a hope that the band could reunite with himself and Anthony saying "My dream tour is the Sam and Dave tour with Ed, Al and Mike."


title: Van Halen

text: On October 6, 2020, Wolfgang announced on his Twitter account that Eddie had died from cancer. His death came just ten days after original Van Halen bassist Mark Stone died of cancer. In a November 2020 interview with Howard Stern, Wolfgang Van Halen confirmed the band's end, stating "You can't have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen." He had also confirmed that the band had considered a "kitchen-sink" reunion tour with Hagar, Anthony and Cherone in the mix prior to Eddie's illness. He also stated that Eddie had been excited about reuniting with Anthony, Hagar, and Cherone.


title: Van Halen

text: The complex technical demands of a Van Halen tour ultimately had a notable side-effect on modern pop music tours, especially via the concert's technical contract-rider. The band used contract-riders to verify the venue's power availability, security, structural and weight distribution details. Their now-infamous riders specified that a bowl of M&M's candies was to be placed in their dressing room and, separately, in a different area of the contract, that all of the brown M&M's were to be removed.


title: Van Halen

text: According to both manager Noel Monk and Roth, this was listed in the technical portion of the contract not because the band wanted to make capricious demands of the venue location, but rather as a test to see if the electrical, structural, security, and safety requirements in the rider had been thoroughly observed. If the bowl, sans brown M&Ms was present, then the band, management and crew could safely assume the other, more legitimate concerns in the technical rider were fulfilled; conversely, if the bowl was missing, or brown M&M's were present, then Van Halen management would be within their rights to have their crew or the venue inspect the work, redo it or even cancel the night's production at the venue's expense.


title: Van Halen

text: Van Halen's musical style has been described as hard rock, heavy metal, AOR, pop rock, and glam metal.


title: Van Halen

text: Van Halen's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowldege" won two awards in the 1992 season: Best Hard Rock Performance at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards, and Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album at the American Music Awards. The band has received an additional two Grammy nominations and eight further AMA nominations. The video for their 1992 single "Right Now" won three awards (of seven nominations) at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards including the prestigious title of Video of the Year. The band's videos had previously been nominated for four VMAs, with "Jump" winning Award for Best Stage Performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The Pantheon (, ; , from Greek "Pantheion", "[temple] of all the gods") is a former Roman temple and, since 609 AD, a Catholic church (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres or Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs) in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). It was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated  126 AD. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose not to inscribe the new temple but rather to retain the inscription of Agrippa's older temple, which had burned down.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The building is cylindrical with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, .


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history: since the 7th century, it has been a church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs () but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda". The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property, managed by Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio. In 2013, it was visited by over 6 million people.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The Pantheon's large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The name "Pantheon" is from the Ancient Greek "Pantheion" (Πάνθειον) meaning "of, relating to, or common to all the gods": (pan- / "παν-" meaning "all" + theion / "θεῖον"= meaning "of or sacred to a god"). Cassius Dio, a Roman senator who wrote in Greek, speculated that the name comes either from the statues of many gods placed around this building, or from the resemblance of the dome to the heavens. His uncertainty strongly suggests that "Pantheon" (or Pantheum) was merely a nickname, not the formal name of the building. In fact, the concept of a pantheon dedicated to all the gods is questionable. The only definite pantheon recorded earlier than Agrippa's was at Antioch in Syria, though it is only mentioned by a sixth-century source. Ziegler tried to collect evidence of pantheons, but his list consists of simple dedications "to all the gods" or "to the Twelve Gods", which are not necessarily true pantheons in the sense of a temple housing a cult that literally worships all the gods.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Godfrey and Hemsoll point out that ancient authors never refer to Hadrian's Pantheon with the word "aedes", as they do with other temples, and the Severan inscription carved on the architrave uses simply "Pantheum," not "Aedes Panthei" (temple of all the gods). Dio does not quote the simplest explanation for the name—that the Pantheon was dedicated to all the gods. Livy wrote that it had been decreed that temple buildings (or perhaps temple cellae) should only be dedicated to single divinities, so that it would be clear who would be offended if, for example, the building was struck by lightning, and because it was only appropriate to offer sacrifice to a specific deity (27.25.7–10). Godfrey and Hemsoll maintain that the word Pantheon "need not denote a particular group of gods, or, indeed, even all the gods, since it could well have had other meanings. ... Certainly the word pantheus or pantheos, could be applicable to individual deities. ... Bearing in mind also that the Greek word θεῖος (theios) need not mean 'of a god' but could mean 'superhuman', or even 'excellent'."


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Since the French Revolution, when the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris was deconsecrated and turned into the secular monument called the Panthéon of Paris, the generic term "pantheon" has sometimes been applied to other buildings in which illustrious dead are honoured or buried.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In the aftermath of the Battle of Actium (31 BC), Marcus Agrippa started an impressive building program: the Pantheon was a part of the complex created by him on his own property in the Campus Martius in 29–19 BC, which included three buildings aligned from south to north: the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune, and the Pantheon. It seems likely that the Pantheon and the Basilica of Neptune were Agrippa's "sacra privata", not "aedes publicae" (public temples). The former would help explain how the building could have so easily lost its original name and purpose (Ziolkowski contends that it was originally the Temple of Mars in Campo) in such a relatively short period of time.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: It had long been thought that the current building was built by Agrippa, with later alterations undertaken, and this was in part because of the Latin inscription on the front of the temple which reads:


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: or in full, ""M[arcus] Agrippa L[ucii] f[ilius] co[n]s[ul] tertium fecit"," meaning "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made [this building] when consul for the third time." However, archaeological excavations have shown that the Pantheon of Agrippa had been completely destroyed except for the façade. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan, four years after it was destroyed by fire for the second time (Oros. 7.12). She reexamined Herbert Bloch's 1959 paper, which is responsible for the commonly maintained Hadrianic date, and maintains that he should not have excluded all of the Trajanic-era bricks from his brick-stamp study. Her argument is particularly interesting in light of Heilmeyer's argument that, based on stylistic evidence, Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's architect, was the obvious architect.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The form of Agrippa's Pantheon is debated. As a result of excavations in the late 19th century, archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani concluded that Agrippa's Pantheon was oriented so that it faced south, in contrast with the current layout that faces north, and that it had a shortened T-shaped plan with the entrance at the base of the "T". This description was widely accepted until the late 20th century. While more recent archaeological diggings have suggested that Agrippa's building might have had a circular form with a triangular porch, and it might have also faced north, much like the later rebuildings, Ziolkowski complains that their conclusions were based entirely on surmise; according to him, they did not find any new datable material, yet they attributed everything they found to the Agrippan phase, failing to account for the fact that Domitian, known for his enthusiasm for building and known to have restored the Pantheon after 80 AD, might well have been responsible for everything they found. Ziolkowski argues that Lanciani's initial assessment is still supported by all of the finds to date, including theirs; he expresses scepticism because the building they describe, "a single building composed of a huge pronaos and a circular cella of the same diameter, linked by a relatively narrow and very short passage (much thinner than the current intermediate block), has no known parallels in classical architecture and would go against everything we know of Roman design principles in general and of Augustan architecture in particular."


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History". From him we know that "the capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of Syracusan bronze", that "the Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the Caryatides, by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as masterpieces of excellence: the same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof," and that one of Cleopatra's pearls was cut in half so that each half "might serve as pendants for the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome".


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The Augustan Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a fire in 80 AD. Domitian rebuilt the Pantheon, which was burnt again in 110 AD.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The degree to which the decorative scheme should be credited to Hadrian's architects is uncertain. Finished by Hadrian but not claimed as one of his works, it used the text of the original inscription on the new façade (a common practice in Hadrian's rebuilding projects all over Rome; the only building on which Hadrian put his own name was the Temple to the Deified Trajan). How the building was actually used is not known. The Historia Augusta says that Hadrian dedicated the Pantheon (among other buildings) in the name of the original builder (Hadr. 19.10), but the current inscription could not be a copy of the original; it provides no information as to who Agrippa's foundation was dedicated to, and, in Ziolkowski's opinion, it was highly unlikely that in 25 BC Agrippa would have presented himself as "consul tertium." On coins, the same words, "M. Agrippa L.f cos. tertium", were the ones used to refer to him after his death; consul tertium serving as "a sort of posthumous cognomen ex virtute, a remembrance of the fact that, of all the men of his generation apart from Augustus himself, he was the only one to hold the consulship thrice." Whatever the cause of the alteration of the inscription might have been, the new inscription reflects the fact that there was a change in the building's purpose.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Cassius Dio, a Graeco-Roman senator, consul and author of a comprehensive "History of Rome", writing approximately 75 years after the Pantheon's reconstruction, mistakenly attributed the domed building to Agrippa rather than Hadrian. Dio appears to be the only near-contemporaneous writer to mention the Pantheon. Even by 200, there was uncertainty about the origin of the building and its purpose:


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In 202, the building was repaired by the joint emperors Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla (fully "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"), for which there is another, smaller inscription on the architrave of the façade, under the aforementioned larger text. This now-barely legible inscription reads:


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In 609, the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who converted it into a Christian church and consecrated it to St. Mary and the Martyrs on 13 May 609: "Another Pope, Boniface, asked the same [Emperor Phocas, in Constantinople] to order that in the old temple called the Pantheon, after the pagan filth was removed, a church should be made, to the holy virgin Mary and all the martyrs, so that the commemoration of the saints would take place henceforth where not gods but demons were formerly worshipped." Twenty-eight cartloads of holy relics of martyrs were said to have been removed from the catacombs and placed in a porphyry basin beneath the high altar. On its consecration, Boniface placed an icon of the Mother of God as 'Panagia Hodegetria' (All Holy Directress) within the new sanctuary.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment, destruction, and the worst of the spoliation that befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early medieval period. However, Paul the Deacon records the spoliation of the building by the Emperor Constans II, who visited Rome in July 663:


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Remaining at Rome twelve days he pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the church [of the blessed Mary], which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honour of all the gods and was now by the consent of the former rulers the place of all the martyrs; and he took away from there the bronze tiles and sent them with all the other ornaments to Constantinople.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Much fine external marble has been removed over the centuries – for example, capitals from some of the pilasters are in the British Museum. Two columns were swallowed up in the medieval buildings that abutted the Pantheon on the east and were lost. In the early 17th century, Urban VIII Barberini tore away the bronze ceiling of the portico, and replaced the medieval campanile with the famous twin towers (often wrongly attributed to Bernini) called "the ass's ears", which were not removed until the late 19th century. The only other loss has been the external sculptures, which adorned the pediment above Agrippa's inscription. The marble interior has largely survived, although with extensive restoration.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been the site of several important burials. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, and the architect Baldassare Peruzzi. In the 15th century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the best-known is the "Annunciation" by Melozzo da Forlì. Filippo Brunelleschi, among other architects, looked to the Pantheon as inspiration for their works.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Pope Urban VIII (1623 to 1644) ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of Castel Sant'Angelo, with the rest used by the Apostolic Camera for other works. It is also said that the bronze was used by Bernini in creating his famous baldachin above the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica, but, according to at least one expert, the Pope's accounts state that about 90% of the bronze was used for the cannon, and that the bronze for the baldachin came from Venice. Concerning this, an anonymous contemporary Roman satirist quipped in a pasquinade (a publicly posted poem) that "quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini" ("What the barbarians did not do the Barberinis [Urban VIII's family name] did").


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In 1747, the broad frieze below the dome with its false windows was "restored," but bore little resemblance to the original. In the early decades of the 20th century, a piece of the original, as far as could be reconstructed from Renaissance drawings and paintings, was recreated in one of the panels.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Two kings of Italy are buried in the Pantheon: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, as well as Umberto's Queen, Margherita. It was supposed to be the final resting place for the Monarchs of Italy of House of Savoy, but the Monarchy was abolished in 1946 and the authorities have refused to grant burial to the former kings who died in exile (Victor Emmanuel III and Umberto II). The National Institute for the Honour Guard of the Royal Tombs of the Pantheon, which mounts guards of honour at the royal tombs of the Pantheon, was originally chartered by the House of Savoy and subsequently operating with authorization of the Italian Republic, mounts as guards of honour in front of the royal tombs.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The Pantheon is in use as a Catholic church, and as such, visitors are asked to keep an appropriate level of deference. Masses are celebrated there on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Weddings are also held there from time to time.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The building was originally approached by a flight of steps. Later construction raised the level of the ground leading to the portico, eliminating these steps.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The pediment was decorated with relief sculpture, probably of gilded bronze. Holes marking the location of clamps that held the sculpture suggest that its design was likely an eagle within a wreath; ribbons extended from the wreath into the corners of the pediment.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: On the intermediate block between the portico and the rotunda, the remains of a second pediment suggests that the existing portico is much shorter than originally intended. A portico aligned with the second pediment would fit columns with shafts 50 Roman feet (14.8 metres) tall and capitals 10 Roman feet tall (3 metres), whereas the existing portico has shafts 40 Roman feet (11.9 metres) tall and capitals eight Roman feet (2.4 metres) tall.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Mark Wilson Jones has attempted to explain the design adjustments by suggesting that, once the higher pediment had been constructed, the required 50-foot columns failed to arrive (possibly as a result of logistical difficulties). The builders then had to make some awkward adjustments to fit the shorter columns and pediments. Rabun Taylor has noted that, even if the taller columns were delivered, basic construction constraints may have prevented their use. Assuming that each column would first be laid on the floor next to its pediment before being pivoted upright (using something like an A-frame), there would be a space requirement of a column-length on one side of the pediment, and at least a column-length on the opposite side for the pivoting equipment and ropes. With 50 foot columns, "there was no way to sequence the erection of [the columns] without creating a hopeless snarl. The shafts were simply too long to be positioned on the floor in a workable configuration, regardless of sequence." Specifically, the innermost row of columns would be blocked by the main body of the temple, and in the later stages of construction some already-erected columns would inevitably obstruct the erection of further columns.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: It has also been argued that the scale of the portico was related to the urban design of the space in front of the temple.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The grey granite columns that were used in the Pantheon's pronaos were quarried in Egypt at Mons Claudianus in the eastern mountains. Each was tall, in diameter, and in weight. These were dragged more than from the quarry to the river on wooden sledges. They were floated by barge down the Nile when the water level was high during the spring floods, and then transferred to vessels to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Roman port of Ostia. There, they were transferred back onto barges and pulled up the Tiber River to Rome. After being unloaded near the Mausoleum of Augustus, the site of the Pantheon was still about 700 metres away. Thus, it was necessary to either drag them or to move them on rollers to the construction site.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In the walls at the back of the Pantheon's portico are two huge niches, perhaps intended for statues of Augustus Caesar and Agrippa.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The large bronze doors to the cella, measuring wide by high, are the oldest in Rome. These were thought to be a 15th-century replacement for the original, mainly because they were deemed by contemporary architects to be too small for the door frames. Later analysis of the fusion technique confirmed that these are the original Roman doors, a rare example of Roman monumental bronze surviving, despite cleaning and the application of Christian motifs over the centuries.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The weight of the Roman concrete dome is concentrated on a ring of voussoirs in diameter that form the oculus, while the downward thrust of the dome is carried by eight barrel vaults in the drum wall into eight piers. The thickness of the dome varies from at the base of the dome to around the oculus. The materials used in the concrete of the dome also vary. At its thickest point, the aggregate is travertine, then terracotta tiles, then at the very top, tufa and pumice, both porous light stones. At the very top, where the dome would be at its weakest and vulnerable to collapse, the oculus lightens the load.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: No tensile test results are available on the concrete used in the Pantheon; however, Cowan discussed tests on ancient concrete from Roman ruins in Libya, which gave a compressive strength of . An empirical relationship gives a tensile strength of for this specimen. Finite element analysis of the structure by Mark and Hutchison found a maximum tensile stress of only at the point where the dome joins the raised outer wall.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The stresses in the dome were found to be substantially reduced by the use of successively less dense aggregate stones, such as small pots or pieces of pumice, in higher layers of the dome. Mark and Hutchison estimated that, if normal weight concrete had been used throughout, the stresses in the arch would have been some 80% greater. Hidden chambers engineered within the rotunda form a sophisticated structural system. This reduced the weight of the roof, as did the oculus eliminating the apex.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The top of the rotunda wall features a series of brick relieving arches, visible on the outside and built into the mass of the brickwork. The Pantheon is full of such devices – for example, there are relieving arches over the recesses inside – but all these arches were hidden by marble facing on the interior and possibly by stone revetment or stucco on the exterior.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, , so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (or, a 43.3-m sphere could fit within the interior). These dimensions make more sense when expressed in ancient Roman units of measurement: The dome spans 150 Roman feet; the oculus is 30 Roman feet in diameter; the doorway is 40 Roman feet high. The Pantheon still holds the record for the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is also substantially larger than earlier domes. It is the only masonry dome to not require reinforcement. All other extant ancient domes were either designed with tie-rods, chains and banding or have been retrofitted with such devices to prevent collapse.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Though often drawn as a free-standing building, there was a building at its rear which abutted it. While this building helped buttress the rotunda, there was no interior passage from one to the other.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Upon entry, visitors are greeted by an enormous rounded room covered by the dome. The oculus at the top of the dome was never covered, allowing rainfall through the ceiling and onto the floor. Because of this, the interior floor is equipped with drains and has been built with an incline of about to promote water runoff.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The interior of the dome was possibly intended to symbolize the arched vault of the heavens. The oculus at the dome's apex and the entry door are the only natural sources of light in the interior. Throughout the day, light from the oculus moves around this space in a reverse sundial effect: marking time with light rather than shadow. The oculus also offers cooling and ventilation; during storms, a drainage system below the floor handles rain falling through the oculus.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The dome features sunken panels (coffers), in five rings of 28. This evenly spaced layout was difficult to achieve and, it is presumed, had symbolic meaning, either numerical, geometric, or lunar. In antiquity, the coffers may have contained bronze rosettes symbolising the starry firmament.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Circles and squares form the unifying theme of the interior design. The checkerboard floor pattern contrasts with the concentric circles of square coffers in the dome. Each zone of the interior, from floor to ceiling, is subdivided according to a different scheme. As a result, the interior decorative zones do not line up. The overall effect is immediate viewer orientation according to the major axis of the building, even though the cylindrical space topped by a hemispherical dome is inherently ambiguous. This discordance has not always been appreciated, and the attic level was redone according to Neoclassical taste in the 18th century.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The present high altars and the apses were commissioned by Pope Clement XI (1700–1721) and designed by Alessandro Specchi. Enshrined on the apse above the high altar is a 7th-century Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child, given by Phocas to Pope Boniface IV on the occasion of the dedication of the Pantheon for Christian worship on 13 May 609. The choir was added in 1840, and was designed by Luigi Poletti.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The first niche to the right of the entrance holds a "Madonna of the Girdle and St Nicholas of Bari" (1686) painted by an unknown artist. The first chapel on the right, the Chapel of the Annunciation, has a fresco of the "Annunciation" attributed to Melozzo da Forlì. On the left side is a canvas by Clement Maioli of "St Lawrence and St Agnes" (1645–1650). On the right wall is the "Incredulity of St Thomas" (1633) by Pietro Paolo Bonzi.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The second niche has a 15th-century fresco of the Tuscan school, depicting the "Coronation of the Virgin". In the second chapel is the tomb of King Victor Emmanuel II (died 1878). It was originally dedicated to the Holy Spirit. A competition was held to decide which architect should design it. Giuseppe Sacconi participated, but lost – he would later design the tomb of Umberto I in the opposite chapel.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Manfredo Manfredi won the competition, and started work in 1885. The tomb consists of a large bronze plaque surmounted by a Roman eagle and the arms of the house of Savoy. The golden lamp above the tomb burns in honor of Victor Emmanuel III, who died in exile in 1947.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The third niche has a sculpture by Il Lorenzone of "St Anne and the Blessed Virgin". In the third chapel is a 15th-century painting of the Umbrian school, "The Madonna of Mercy between St Francis and St John the Baptist". It is also known as the Madonna of the Railing, because it originally hung in the niche on the left-hand side of the portico, where it was protected by a railing. It was moved to the "Chapel of the Annunciation", and then to its present position sometime after 1837. The bronze epigram commemorated Pope Clement XI's restoration of the sanctuary. On the right wall is the canvas "Emperor Phocas presenting the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV" (1750) by an unknown. There are three memorial plaques in the floor, one conmmemorating a Gismonda written in the vernacular. The final niche on the right side has a statue of "St. Anastasius" ("Sant'Anastasio") (1725) by Bernardino Cametti.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: On the first niche to the left of the entrance is an "Assumption" (1638) by Andrea Camassei. The first chapel on the left, the Chapel of St Joseph in the Holy Land, is the chapel of the Confraternity of the , a confraternity of artists and musicians formed by a 16th-century canon, Desiderio da Segni, to ensure that worship was maintained in the chapel.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The first members were, among others, Antonio da Sangallo the younger, Jacopo Meneghino, Giovanni Mangone, Zuccari, Domenico Beccafumi, and Flaminio Vacca. The confraternity continued to draw members from the elite of Rome's artists and architects, and among later members we find Bernini, Cortona, Algardi, and many others. The institution still exists, and is now called the "Academia Ponteficia di Belle Arti" (The Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts), based in the palace of the Cancelleria. The altar in the chapel is covered with false marble. On the altar is a statue of "St Joseph and the Holy Child" by Vincenzo de' Rossi.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: To the sides are paintings (1661) by Francesco Cozza, one of the Virtuosi: "Adoration of the Shepherds" on left side and "Adoration of the Magi" on right. The stucco relief on the left, "Dream of St Joseph", is by Paolo Benaglia, and the one on the right, "Rest during the flight from Egypt", is by Carlo Monaldi. On the vault are several 17th-century canvases, from left to right: "Cumean Sibyl" by Ludovico Gimignani; Moses by Francesco Rosa; "Eternal Father" by Giovanni Peruzzini; "David" by Luigi Garzi; and "Eritrean Sibyl" by Giovanni Andrea Carlone.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The second niche has a statue of "St Agnes", by Vincenzo Felici. The bust on the left is a portrait of Baldassare Peruzzi, derived from a plaster portrait by Giovanni Duprè. The tomb of King Umberto I and his wife Margherita di Savoia is in the next chapel. The chapel was originally dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, and then to St. Thomas the Apostle. The present design is by Giuseppe Sacconi, completed after his death by his pupil Guido Cirilli. The tomb consists of a slab of alabaster mounted in gilded bronze. The frieze has allegorical representations of "Generosity", by Eugenio Maccagnani, and "Munificence", by Arnaldo Zocchi. The royal tombs are maintained by the National Institute of Honour Guards to the Royal Tombs, founded in 1878. They also organize picket guards at the tombs. The altar with the royal arms is by Cirilli.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The third niche holds the mortal remains – his Ossa et cineres, "Bones and ashes", as the inscription on the sarcophagus says – of the great artist Raphael. His fiancée, Maria Bibbiena is buried to the right of his sarcophagus; she died before they could marry. The sarcophagus was given by Pope Gregory XVI, and its inscription reads "ILLE HIC EST RAPHAEL TIMUIT QUO SOSPITE VINCI / RERUM MAGNA PARENS ET MORIENTE MORI", meaning "Here lies Raphael, by whom the great mother of all things (Nature) feared to be overcome while he was living, and while he was dying, herself to die". The epigraph was written by Pietro Bembo.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The present arrangement is from 1811, designed by Antonio Muñoz. The bust of Raphael (1833) is by Giuseppe Fabris. The two plaques commemorate Maria Bibbiena and Annibale Carracci. Behind the tomb is the statue known as the "Madonna del Sasso" (Madonna of the Rock) so named because she rests one foot on a boulder. It was commissioned by Raphael and made by Lorenzetto in 1524.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: In the Chapel of the Crucifixion, the Roman brick wall is visible in the niches. The wooden crucifix on the altar is from the 15th century. On the left wall is a "Descent of the Holy Ghost" (1790) by Pietro Labruzi. On the right side is the low relief "Cardinal Consalvi presents to Pope Pius VII the five provinces restored to the Holy See" (1824) made by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The bust is a portrait of Cardinal Agostino Rivarola. The final niche on this side has a statue of "St. Evasius" ("Sant'Evasio") (1727) by Francesco Moderati.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: On 23 July 1725, the Pantheon was established as Cardinal-deaconry of S. Maria ad Martyres, i.e. a titular church for a cardinal-deacon. On 26 May 1929, this deaconry was suppressed to establish the Cardinal Deaconry of S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: As the best-preserved example of an Ancient Roman monumental building, the Pantheon has been enormously influential in Western architecture from at least the Renaissance on; starting with Brunelleschi's dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, completed in 1436.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: Among the most notable versions are the church of Santa Maria Assunta (1664) in Ariccia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which followed his work restoring the Roman original, Belle Isle House (1774) in England and Thomas Jefferson's library at the University of Virginia, The Rotunda (1817–1826). Others include the Rotunda of Mosta in Malta (1833). Other notable replicas, such as The Rotunda (New York) (1818), do not survive.


title: Pantheon, Rome

text: The portico-and-dome form of the Pantheon can be detected in many buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries; numerous government and public buildings, city halls, university buildings, and public libraries echo its structure.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor and writer. He has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Screen Actors Guild Awards.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak became known for starring as Ryan Howard in the NBC sitcom "The Office" (2005–2013), for which he also served as a writer, executive producer, and director. He played roles in the films "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013), and "The Founder" (2016). Novak made his directorial debut in 2022, starring in the dark comedy thriller "Vengeance" (2022).


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak also appeared in "" (2013–2016) and "The Newsroom" (2014), and was the creator and executive producer of Hulu anthology series "The Premise" (2021). He portrays Alistair Smythe in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014).


title: B. J. Novak

text: Beyond his film career, Novak authored the acclaimed books "One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories" (2014) and "The Book with No Pictures" (2014).


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak was born on July 31, 1979, in Newton, Massachusetts. His parents are Linda (née ) and author William Novak. Novak's family is Jewish. His father co-edited "The Big Book of Jewish Humor", and has ghostwritten memoirs for Nancy Reagan, Lee Iacocca, Magic Johnson, and others. Novak has two younger brothers: Lev Novak and composer Jesse Novak.


title: B. J. Novak

text: He attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston for elementary school and middle school. He went to Camp Ramah in New England in Massachusetts for several summers when he was in 6th, 7th, and 9th grade.


title: B. J. Novak

text: He attended Newton South High School with future "The Office" costar John Krasinski, and they graduated in 1997. Novak edited one of the school newspapers, "The Lion's Roar", and cowrote a satirical play with Krasinski.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak graduated from Harvard University in 2001, where he was a member of the "Harvard Lampoon". He majored in English and Spanish literature, and wrote his honors thesis on the films of Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Aside from the "Lampoon", he occasionally staged and performed in a variety show called "The B.J. Show" with fellow Harvard student B. J. Averell.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Following his graduation from Harvard, he moved to Los Angeles, California and began working in clubs as a comedian. His first live stand-up performance took place at the Hollywood Youth Hostel on October 10, 2001. He was named one of "Variety"s "Ten Comedians To Watch" in 2003.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak was a writer for the short-lived The WB sitcom "Raising Dad". He performed on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" and on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien".


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak's television acting career began on MTV's "Punk'd". He was the lead accomplice to Ashton Kutcher on the show's second season in 2003, playing pranks on Hilary Duff, Rachael Leigh Cook, Usher, and Mýa.


title: B. J. Novak

text: An image of Novak entered the public domain as a stock photo and has been used on various international products, reportedly including a particular type of Calvin Klein cologne in Sweden.


title: B. J. Novak

text: After hearing Novak's opening joke at a comedy club, executive producer Greg Daniels decided he "wanted to do something with him." Novak was subsequently cast as Ryan Howard, who is first introduced on the show as a temporary employee at Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Novak's character goes through ups and downs throughout his work career and has an on and off relationship with Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling).


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak was a cast member on the show and also a producer and writer. He, along with Kaling, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, and Paul Lieberstein, were the original writers for the show. Novak is credited with writing 15 episodes of the show, including the Writers Guild of America nominated episodes "Diversity Day" and "Local Ad".


title: B. J. Novak

text: On July 21, 2010, news reports indicated Novak had signed a contract to remain with the show for its seventh and eighth seasons. Under the new terms, he would be made an executive producer midway through Season 7 and direct two episodes of the show. Novak left "The Office" after the ninth-season premiere "New Guys", however, he returned to guest-star in the final episode of the series. In a podcast interview Novak did in 2021 on Dax Shepard's show, he confirmed that he had been offered the Season 9 showrunner position but declined it because he decided that his fire for the job had burned out, and it was simply time for him to move on to new projects.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak and his fellow writers and producers of "The Office" were nominated five consecutive times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series from 2007 to 2011.


title: B. J. Novak

text: In a June 2009 interview with "The Philadelphia Inquirer", Novak spoke about sharing the success of "The Office" with his Newton South High School classmate John Krasinski:"Sometimes when this feels too good to be true, I think that if this were all a dream, that would be what should have tipped me off. I'd wake up saying, "I was in this incredible TV show and it was a big hit and the star was John [Krasinski] from high school. Isn't that weird?"


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak has had supporting roles in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed 2009 war film "Inglourious Basterds", John Lee Hancock's 2013 period drama "Saving Mr. Banks" about the development of the 1964 film "Mary Poppins", and Hancock's 2016 biographical drama "The Founder" about the founder of McDonald's.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak has also appeared in the films "Unaccompanied Minors" in 2006, "Knocked Up" in 2007, "Reign Over Me" in 2007, "The Internship" in 2013, and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in 2014.


title: B. J. Novak

text: He has starred in a few episodes each of "The Mindy Project" and "The Newsroom", and made cameo appearances in the shows "Community" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend". He also served as a consulting producer for the first season of "The Mindy Project".


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak wrote, directed and executive produced a half-hour anthological series called "The Premise", released on FX in 2021. Novak starred in the 2022 thriller "Vengeance", of which he was also the writer and director. Filming began in March 2020 but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic until January 2021. In May 2020, it was announced that Novak would be writing and executive producing an upcoming show entitled "Young People" on HBO Max.


title: B. J. Novak

text: On April 11, 2013, publishing house Alfred A. Knopf announced it had signed a seven-figure, two-book deal with Novak, with the first book slated to be a collection of Woody Allen-like fiction stories. On February 4, 2014, a book of 64 stories, "One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories", was published and spent 6 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers Hardcover Fiction List.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak also signed a deal with Penguin's children's books label and wrote "The Book With No Pictures", which was released on September 30, 2014. As of January 2021, "The Book With No Pictures" has spent a total of 174 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller Picture Books List since its release, with 34 weeks charting as #1. Its most recent listing was at #10 in September 2020. A self-proclaimed lifelong lover of books, Novak has said he wrote the children's book partially because "to me, there is no more meaningful, important or exciting rule to introduce to children than the power of the written word."


title: B. J. Novak

text: On November 19, 2019, "My Book with No Pictures" was published as a fill-in-the-blanks companion book to "The Book with No Pictures" to allow children to write their own story.


title: B. J. Novak

text: On October 14, 2015, Novak released an Apple iOS app along with co-founder Dev Flaherty called The List App. The app was nominated for a Webby Award (losing in its category to Beme and Pocket) in 2016. In May 2016, the app was rebranded as 'li.st' and became available on the Android platform. In September 2017, the app was shut down due to lack of users.


title: B. J. Novak

text: Novak has a close friendship with Mindy Kaling, whom he met through writing for "The Office", and called her "the most important person in my life" (on "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross). The two dated on and off while writing and acting on the show, sometimes mirroring the on-again, off-again nature of the relationship between their respective characters Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor. Novak is the godfather of Kaling's two children. He lives in Los Angeles.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war comedy-drama television series "M*A*S*H" (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda is also known for recurring roles on television series, such as "The West Wing" and "Ray Donovan", and received critical acclaim for his appearances in films such as "Same Time, Next Year" (1978) alongside Ellen Burstyn and for his directorial debut film "The Four Seasons" (1981). Other film appearances include "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), "Flirting with Disaster" (1996), the Cold War drama "Bridge of Spies" (2015), and "Marriage Story" (2019). In 2004, Alda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Aviator". Alda has also received three Tony Award nominations for his Broadway performances in "The Apple Tree" (1967), "Jake's Women" (1992), and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (2005). In 2019, Alda received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda was born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo on January 28, 1936, in the Bronx, New York City. Alda spent his childhood with his parents travelling around the United States in support of his father's job as a performer in burlesque theatres. His father Robert Alda (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo) was an actor and singer, and his mother Joan Browne was a homemaker and former beauty-pageant winner. His father was of Italian descent (D'Abruzzo is a toponymic surname) and his mother was of Irish ancestry. His adopted surname, Alda, is a portmanteau of the first parts of his first and last names.


title: Alan Alda

text: When Alda was seven years old, he contracted polio. To combat the disease, his parents administered a painful treatment regimen developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny, consisting of applying hot woollen blankets to his limbs and stretching his muscles. Alda attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York. He studied English at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV. During Alda's junior year, he studied in Paris, acted in a play in Rome, and performed with his father on television in Amsterdam.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 1956, Alda received his Bachelor of Arts degree. A member of the ROTC, he entered the United States Army Reserve and served for a year at Fort Benning, then six months as a gunnery officer in Korea. In a 2013 interview, Alda joked that he was actually in charge of a mess tent.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda began his career in the 1950s, as a member of the Compass Players, an improvisational, comedy revue directed by Paul Sills. He later became a member of the improvisational group Second City in Chicago. He joined the acting company at the Cleveland Play House during the 1958–1959 season as part of a grant from the Ford Foundation, appearing in productions such as "To Dorothy a Son", "Heaven Come Wednesday", "Monique", and "Job". In 1958 Alda appeared as Carlyle Thompson III on "The Phil Silvers Show" in the episode titled "Bilko the Art Lover". In the November 1964 world premiere at the ANTA Playhouse of the stage version of "The Owl and The Pussycat", he played Felix the "Owl" opposite the "Pussycat" which was played by actress/singer Diana Sands. He continued to play Felix the "Owl" for the 1964-65 Broadway season. In 1966, he starred in the musical "The Apple Tree" on Broadway, with Barbara Harris. He was nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical for that role.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda was part of the cast, along with David Frost, Henry Morgan and Buck Henry, of the American television version of "That Was The Week That Was", which ran as a series from January 10, 1964, to May 1965. He made his Hollywood acting debut as a supporting player in "Gone Are the Days!" – a film version of the Broadway play "Purlie Victorious", which co-starred Ruby Dee and her husband, Ossie Davis. Other film roles followed, such as his portrayal of author, humorist, and actor George Plimpton in the film "Paper Lion" (1968), as well as "The Extraordinary Seaman" (1969), and the occult-murder-suspense thriller "The Mephisto Waltz", with actresses Jacqueline Bisset and Barbara Parkins. During this time, Alda frequently appeared as a panelist on the 1968 revival of "What's My Line?". He also appeared as a panelist on "I've Got a Secret" during its 1972 syndication revival.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda also wrote several of the stories and poems that appeared in Marlo Thomas' television show "Free to Be... You and Me".


title: Alan Alda

text: In early 1972, Alda auditioned for and was selected to play the role of Hawkeye Pierce in the TV adaptation of the 1970 film "M*A*S*H". He was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, and won five. He took part in writing 19 episodes, including the 1983 2.5-hour series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", which was also the 32nd episode he directed. It remains the single most-watched episode of any American broadcast network television series. Alda was the only series regular to appear in all 256 episodes.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda commuted from Los Angeles to his home in New Jersey every weekend for 11 years while starring in "M*A*S*H". His wife and daughters lived in New Jersey and he did not want to move his family to Los Angeles, initially because he did not know how long the show would last.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda's father, Robert Alda, and half-brother Antony Alda appeared together in the 20th episode of season eight of "M*A*S*H", "Lend a Hand". Robert had previously appeared in "The Consultant" in season three.


title: Alan Alda

text: During the first five seasons of the series, the tone of "M*A*S*H" was largely that of a traditional "service comedy", in the vein of shows such as "McHale's Navy". However, as the original writers gradually left the series, Alda gained increasing control, and by the final seasons had become a producer and creative consultant. Under his watch, "M*A*S*H" retained its comedic foundation, but gradually assumed a somewhat more serious tone, openly addressing political issues. As a result, the 11 years of "M*A*S*H" are generally split into two eras: the Larry Gelbart/Gene Reynolds "comedy" years (1972–1977), and the Alan Alda "dramatic" years (1977–1983). Alda disagreed with this assessment. In a 2016 interview he stated, "I don't like to write political messages. I don't like plays that have political messages. I do not think I am responsible for that."


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda and his co-stars Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson worked well together during the first three seasons, but over time tensions developed as Alda's role grew in popularity and disrupted the original 'equal' standing of their characters. Rogers and Stevenson both left the show at the end of the third season. Anticipating the fourth season, Alda and the producers sought a replacement actor for the surrogate parent role embodied in the character Colonel Blake. They found veteran actor Harry Morgan, a fan of the series who starred as Colonel Sherman T. Potter, a character who carried on as one of the show's lead protagonists. Mike Farrell was introduced as Hawkeye's new tentmate BJ Hunnicutt.


title: Alan Alda

text: In his 1981 autobiography, Jackie Cooper (who directed several early episodes) wrote that Alda concealed a lot of hostility beneath the surface, and that the two of them barely spoke to each other by the time Cooper's directing of "M*A*S*H" ended.


title: Alan Alda

text: During his "M*A*S*H" years, Alda made several game-show appearances, most notably in "The $10,000 Pyramid" and as a frequent panelist on "What's My Line?" and "To Tell the Truth". He also wrote and starred, in the title role, in the 1979 political drama film "The Seduction of Joe Tynan."


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda's prominence in "M*A*S*H" provided him a platform to speak out on political topics. He has been a strong and vocal supporter of women's rights and the feminist movement. He co-chaired, with former First Lady Betty Ford, the Equal Rights Amendment Countdown campaign. In 1976, "The Boston Globe" dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon" for his activism on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda played Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman in the play "QED", which had only one other character. Although Peter Parnell wrote the play, Alda both produced and inspired it. Alda has also appeared frequently in the films of Woody Allen, and was a guest star five times on "ER", playing Dr. Kerry Weaver's mentor, Gabriel Lawrence. During the later episodes, Lawrence was revealed to be in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Alda also had a co-starring role as Dr. Robert Gallo in the 1993 TV movie "And the Band Played On".


title: Alan Alda

text: During "M*A*S*H"s run and continuing through the 1980s, Alda embarked on a successful career as a writer and director, with the ensemble dramedy, "The Four Seasons" being perhaps his most notable hit. "Betsy's Wedding" is his last directing credit to date. After "M*A*S*H", Alda took on a series of roles that either parodied or directly contradicted his "nice guy" image. He then partnered with producer Martin Bregman on various films, first with an agreement at Universal Pictures in 1983, then it was moved to Lorimar Motion Pictures in 1986.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda has frequently appeared in the films of his friend, Woody Allen, including "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993) and "Everyone Says I Love You" (1996). When asked about the controversy surrounding Allen in 2019, Alda stated, "I'd work with him again if he wanted me. I'm not qualified to judge him... I just don't have enough information to convince me I shouldn't work with him. And he's an enormously talented guy."


title: Alan Alda

text: From the fall season of 1993 until the show ended in 2005, Alda was the host for "Scientific American Frontiers", which began on PBS in 1990.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 1995, he starred as the President of the United States in Michael Moore's political satire/comedy film "Canadian Bacon". Around this time, rumors circulated that Alda was considering running for the United States Senate in New Jersey, but he denied this. In 1996, Alda played Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, in "Camping With Henry and Tom", based on the book by Mark St. Germain and appeared in the comedy film, "Flirting with Disaster". In 1997 Alda played National Security Adviser Alvin Jordan In "Murder at 1600". In 1999, Alda portrayed Dr. Gabriel Lawrence in NBC program "ER" for five episodes and was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda starred in the original Broadway production of the play "Art", which opened on March 1, 1998, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The play won the Tony Award for Best Play.


title: Alan Alda

text: Beginning in 2004, Alda was a regular cast member on the NBC program "The West Wing", portraying California Republican U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Arnold Vinick, until the show's conclusion in May 2006. He made his premiere in the sixth season's eighth episode, "In The Room", and was added to the opening credits with the 13th episode, "King Corn". In August 2006, Alda won an Emmy for his portrayal of Vinick in the final season of "The West Wing". Alda appeared in a total of 28 episodes during the show's sixth and seventh seasons. Alda had been a serious candidate, along with Sidney Poitier, for the role of President Josiah Bartlet before Martin Sheen was ultimately cast in the role.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2004, Alda portrayed conservative Maine Senator Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning film "The Aviator", in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio. Alda received his first Academy Award nomination for this role in 2005.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda also had a part in the 2000 romantic comedy "What Women Want", as the CEO of the advertising firm where the main characters worked.


title: Alan Alda

text: In early 2005, Alda starred as Shelly Levene in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross", for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Throughout 2009 and 2010, he appeared in three episodes of "30 Rock" as Milton Greene, the biological father of Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin. In January 2010, Alda hosted "The Human Spark", a three-part series originally broadcast on PBS discussing the nature of human uniqueness and recent studies on the human brain.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2006, Alda contributed his voice to a part in the audio book of Max Brooks' "World War Z". In this book, he voiced Arthur Sinclair, Jr., the director of the United States government's fictional Department of Strategic Resources (DeStRes).


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda returned to Broadway in November 2014, playing the role of Andrew Makepeace in the revival of "Love Letters" at the Brooks Atkinson Theater alongside Candice Bergen.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2015, Alda appeared as a lawyer, Thomas Watters, alongside Tom Hanks as James Donovan, in Steven Spielberg's critically acclaimed cold war drama film "Bridge of Spies" which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2016, Alda gained critical praise for his performance in Louis C.K.'s acclaimed web-based series "Horace and Pete" as the irascible Uncle Pete. IndieWire critic Sam Adams described as "his best role in years". In regards to C.K.'s recent scandal, Alda stated, "I respect Louis so much as an artist. But he did a terrible thing, and I hope he finds a way to come to terms with both of those things."


title: Alan Alda

text: Also in 2016, Alda took part in the opening night show of John Mulaney and Nick Kroll's "Oh, Hello" at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway. The show is said to be inspired by "two old men at the Strand buying a copy of Alda's book". Before bringing Alda onstage, Mulaney said, "This is genuinely the best guest we ever had."


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2018, Alda began portraying psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Amiot in Season 6 of Showtime's "Ray Donovan".


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2019, Alda appeared in Noah Baumbach's thirteenth film, "Marriage Story", as a warm-hearted lawyer who represents a stage director (Adam Driver) during the divorce proceedings. In an interview with "The Wall Street Journal", Alda discussed the effects of his illness, mainly Parkinson's disease, and other related issues. He stated, "I have this tremor. It's not part of the script so I didn't want it to be distracting if Noah thought it would be distracting." Alda has received widespread acclaim for his performance.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda has done extensive charity work. He helped narrate a 2005 St. Jude Children's Hospital-produced one-hour special TV show "Fighting for Life". His wife, Arlene, and he are also close friends of Marlo Thomas, who is very active in fund-raising for the hospital that her father, Danny Thomas founded. The television special featured Ben Bowen as one of six patients being treated for childhood cancer at Saint Jude. Alda and Marlo Thomas had also worked together in the early 1970s on a critically acclaimed children's album entitled "Free to Be You and Me", which featured Alda, Thomas, and a number of other well-known character actors. This project remains one of the earliest public signs of his support of women's rights. Alda chaired "Men for the Equal Rights Amendment" and was appointed to the International Women's Year Commission.


title: Alan Alda

text: For 14 years, he served as the host of "Scientific American Frontiers", a television show that explored cutting-edge advances in science and technology. In 2010, he became a visiting professor at Stony Brook University. In 2009, he was a founder of the university's Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. He continues as a member of its advisory board. He is also on the advisory board of the Future of Life Institute. He serves on the board of the World Science Festival and is a judge for Math-O-Vision.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alda also has an avid interest in cosmology, and participated in BBC coverage of the opening of the Large Hadron Collider, at CERN, Geneva, in September 2008.


title: Alan Alda

text: He was named an Honorary Fellow by the Society for Technical Communication in 2014 for his work with the Center for Communicating Science and the annual Flame Challenge. Alda would like to use his expertise in acting and communication to help scientists communicate more effectively to the public. In 2014 Alda was awarded the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public for his work in science communication. He was awarded the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal in 2016 "for his extraordinary application of the skills honed as an actor to communicating science on television and stage, and by teaching scientists innovative techniques that allow them to tell their stories to the public".


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2011 Alda wrote "Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie", a full-length play that focuses on Marie Skłodowska Curie's professional and personal life during the time between the Nobel Prizes won by her for physics and chemistry, from 1903 to 1911.


title: Alan Alda

text: On 18 February 2021, he received the Kavli Foundation's first-ever Distinguished Kavli Science Communicator award for his pioneering work in communicating the excitement, mystery and marvels of science.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 1956, while attending Fordham, Alda met Arlene Weiss, who was attending Hunter College. They bonded at a mutual friend's dinner party; when a rum cake accidentally fell onto the kitchen floor, they were the only two guests who did not hesitate to eat it. After a screenshot of this Wikipedia article went viral, he addressed the incident saying "We did eat the rum cake off the floor and were inseparable after that. But I was captivated by her even earlier in the meal when I heard her at the end of the table laughing at my jokes. She had me at Ha." A year after his graduation, on March 15, they were married. They have three daughters: Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice. Two of his eight grandchildren are aspiring actors. Arlene sometimes calls him "Fonzi" in reference to his birth name "Alphonso".


title: Alan Alda

text: The Aldas were long-time residents of Leonia, New Jersey. Alda frequented Sol & Sol Deli on Palisade Avenue in the nearby town of Englewood, New Jersey—a fact mirrored in his character's daydream about eating whitefish from the establishment in an episode of "M*A*S*H" in which Hawkeye sustains a head injury.


title: Alan Alda

text: In "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself", Alda described how as a teen he was raised as a Roman Catholic and eventually he realized he had begun thinking like an agnostic or atheist. While he states that he still prays on occasion, he said he wants to find meaning in this life rather than worrying about the next one. He states that when he talks to God it often comes at times of fear rather than out of a sense of belief. Furthermore, he does not like to be labeled as an agnostic, stating in an interview for the 2008 question section of the Edge Foundation website, that it was too fancy a word for him. He argues he simply is not a believer and questions why people are so frightened of others who hold beliefs different from their own.


title: Alan Alda

text: On July 31, 2018, he appeared on "CBS This Morning" and announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three years earlier.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2005, Alda published his first round of memoirs, "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned". Among other stories, he recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while on location in La Serena, Chile, for his PBS show "Scientific American Frontiers", during which he mildly surprised a young doctor with his understanding of medical procedures, which he had learned from "M*A*S*H". He also talks about his mother's battle with schizophrenia. The title comes from an incident in his childhood, when Alda was distraught about his dog dying and his well-meaning father had the animal stuffed. Alda was horrified by the results, and took from this that sometimes we have to accept things as they are, rather than desperately and fruitlessly trying to change them.


title: Alan Alda

text: His second memoir, appeared in 2008, "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself", weaves together advice from public speeches he has given with personal recollections about his life and beliefs.


title: Alan Alda

text: In 2017, appeared a third memoir, entitled "If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating", a story of his quest to learn how to communicate better, and to teach others to do the same.


title: Alan Alda

text: Alan Alda has been awarded several honorary degrees in recognition of his acting career and promotion of educational initiatives. These include:


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have considerably lesser status.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The New Testament of the Bible provides the earliest accounts of Mary, mainly in the canonical Gospels. She is described as a young virgin who was chosen by God to conceive Jesus through the Holy Spirit. After giving birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, she raised him in the city of Nazareth in Galilee, and was in Jerusalem at his crucifixion and with the apostles after his ascension. Although her later life is not accounted in the Bible, Catholic and Eastern Christian traditions believe that her body was raised into heaven at the end of her earthly life, which is known in Western Christianity as the Assumption of Mary and in Eastern Christianity as the Dormition of the Mother of God.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Mary has been venerated since early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the holiest and greatest saint. There is a certain diversity in the Mariology and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her Immaculate Conception and her Assumption into heaven. Many Protestants minimize Mary's role, based on what they argue is lack of biblical support for any beliefs other than her status as the Mother of God and the virgin birth. She is mentioned several times in the Quran, including in a chapter named after her, and has the highest position in Islam among all women.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The multiple forms of Marian devotions include various prayers and liturgical chants, the celebration of several Marian feast days in Christian liturgy, the veneration of relics and images, the construction of churches dedicated to Mary and pilgrimages to Marian shrines. Many Marian apparition and miracles attributed to her intercession have been reported by believers over the centuries. She has been a traditional subject in arts, notably in byzantine art, medieval art and Renaissance art.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Mary's name in the original manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name , transliterated as or . The English name "Mary" comes from the Greek , a shortened form of the name . Both and appear in the New Testament.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: In Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that the Holy Spirit impregnated her, thereby conceiving her first-born son Jesus miraculously, without sexual relations with her betrothed/husband Joseph, "until her son [Jesus] was born". The word "until" has inspired considerable analysis on whether Joseph and Mary produced siblings after the birth of Jesus or not.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Among her many other names and titles are the Blessed Virgin Mary (often abbreviated to "BVM", or "BMV" after the Latin ), Saint Mary (occasionally), the Mother of God (primarily in Western Christianity), the (primarily in Eastern Christianity), Our Lady (Medieval ), and Queen of Heaven (; see also here). The title "queen of heaven" had previously been used as an epithet for a number of ancient sky-goddesses, such as "Nin-anna", Astarte, Ishtar and Astoreth, the Canaanite sky-goddess worshipped during the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah's lifetime.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Titles in use vary among Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Mormons, and other Christians.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are ( or "God-bearer"), () which means ever-virgin, as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, and () meaning "all-holy". Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The title , which means "God-bearer," was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The direct equivalents of title in Latin are and , although the phrase is more often loosely translated into Latin as ("Mother of God"), with similar patterns for other languages used in the Latin Church. However, this same phrase in Greek (), in the abbreviated form , is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers "did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God".


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: Some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title "Queen Mother" has been given to Mary, as she was the mother of Jesus, sometimes referred to as the "King of Kings" due to his ancestral descent from King David. This is also based on the Hebrew tradition of the "Queen-Mother," the Gebirah or "Great Lady." Other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals, or occasions for calling on Mary.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: In Islam, Mary is known as Maryam (), mother of Isa (). She is often referred to by the honorific title , meaning "Our Lady"; this title is in parallel to ("Our Lord"), used for the prophets. A related term of endearment is , meaning "she who confirms the truth" and "she who believes sincerely completely". Another title for Mary is , which signifies both constant submission to God and absorption in prayer and invocation in Islam. She is also called , meaning "one who has been purified" and representing her status as one of two humans in creation (and the only woman) to not be touched by Satan at any point. In the Quran, she is described both as "the daughter of Imran and "the sister of Aaron".


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The canonical Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are the primary sources of historical information about Mary. They are almost contemporary sources, as the synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are generally considered dating from around AD 66–90, while the gospel of John would date from AD 90–110. They provide limited information about Mary, as they primarily focus on the teaching of Jesus and on his apostles. The historical reliability of the Gospels and historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles are subject to debate, as it was common practice in early Christian writings to mix historical facts with legendary stories.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The earliest New Testament account of Mary is in the epistle to the Galatians, which was written before the gospels. She is referred to as "a woman" and is not named: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: In the Book of Revelation, also part of the New Testament, the "woman clothed with the sun" (Revelation 12:1, 12:5–6) is sometimes identified as Mary.


title: Mary, mother of Jesus

text: The New Testament tells little of Mary's early history. The Gospel of Matthew does give a genealogy for Jesus by his father's paternal line, only identifying Mary as the wife of Joseph. John 19:25 states that Mary had a sister; semantically it is unclear if this sister is the same as Mary of Clopas, or if she is left unnamed. Jerome identifies Mary of Clopas as the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the early 2nd century historian Hegesippus, Mary of Clopas was likely Mary's sister-in-law, understanding Clopas (Cleophas) to have been Joseph's brother.