The Pantheon was built as a temple to the Roman Gods about 2,000 years ago and it still exists today.  We are leaving on a cruise to see this massive tribute to man’s ingenuity in about seven days.  It was built in Rome, in about 126 A.D. but I don’t think anyone knows exactly how old it is because some historians say that there was an original structure built on Campo Marzo, but that the one standing now, in what was the hub of the business district, must have been a replacement for the original one.  There are legends about who built it too; some saying Marcus Agrippa  built it in a tribute to Mars and Venus, and that it was struck by lightning and burned down; but was rebuilt by Hadrian who made it wondrous and elegant with columns that were built in Egypt an shipped to Rome on barges.  The columns weighed 60 tons.  They had to erect 20 foot walls to support the huge domed top, and it was so heavy that it had to be made of lighter weight cement near the top. A hole was placed in the top of the dome so that the sky could be seen from below.  The Pantheon is beautiful and the myths that surround its history are part of the charm.  How it has survived all these years, is a miracle.