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116 SWEDENBORG’S TRAVELS AND DIARIES. [Doc. 206.
man.
was there, before which the Carthaginians offered every year a
The temple was struck by lightning during the time of
Hadrian, but it was repaired by Aurelius and Septimius Se
verus; and it was again destroyed by fire during the reign of
Commodus. Under the Emperor Phocas in 607* it was dedi
cated to the blessed virgin and all saints ; in the year 830,
twenty-eight carts full of the bones of martyrs were conveyed
thither, whence the church was called " S. Maria ad mar
tyros ;" it is reported that a portrait of Mary was drawn there
by St. Luke. The church was repaired and put into its
present state chiefly by Clement XI in 1707. The cupola
and portico were originally covered with metal, but in 636 this
was carried off. The cross-beams were of metal, which was
employed in the church of St. Peter in the construction of
the great altar of Peter. The church is 154 feet high, and
154 feet in diameter, in all directions. The opening alone
in the roof, which is twelve paces in diameter, admits more
light and distributes it more equally, than could be done by
many windows. The sound is much increased in the build
ing. A slight current of air prevailed towards the door, and
under the opening there was some water, as it rained, but not
much. Fifteen altars, and some four or five marble images
are in the church; also fourteen columns of yellow marble,
and fourteen columns of the same material correspond
ing with them in the wall. The portico is an object of
admiration ; it consists of sixteen pillars made of oriental
granite or grey-stone, six and a half hand-breadths in diameter ;
they are high, made of a single stone, and larger than I have
seen anywhere else ; the wonder is how they could have
been transported thither. The door is very large and of
metal ; the frame in which the door hangs is of stone, and all
of one piece. Several inscriptions are in the building. The
walls are thirty hand-breadths thick. It is reported that a wheel
* Phocas was the East-Roman or Byzantine emperor, who resided at
Constantinople; he reigned from 602 to 610. In 608the celebrated Colonna
di Foca was erected to his honour in the Roman Forum, where it still
stands. Phocas himself, who was a debauchee and tyrant, was never at
Rome. The Pantheon was dedicated to the worship of the Roman Catholic
church by Pope Bonifacius IV, who filled the chair of St. Peter from 608 to 614.
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