- pantheon
- c.1300, from Pantheon, temple for all the gods, built in Rome c.25 B.C.E. by Agrippa (since 609 C.E. made into the Christian church of Santa Maria Rotonda), from Gk. Pantheion (hieron) "(shrine) of all the gods," from pantheion, neut. of pantheios, from pan- "all" + theios "of or for the gods," from theos "god" (see Thea). Sense of any group of exalted persons is first found 1596.