Pantheon, Rome
An abiding subject of study and controversy has been the Pantheon, Rome, which despite being one of the most famous icons of architectural history is arguably a flawed masterpiece. The theory of a compromised design, first published in 1987 together with Paul Davies and David Hemsoll, was further developed in the final pair of chapters in Principles of Roman Architecture. Although widely embraced, the ‘compromise hypothesis’ has been contested by Lothar Haselberger, a fellow authority on ancient design. Wilson Jones has published further corroboration in the volume of essays, "The Pantheon from Antiquity to the Present" (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Two decades of research into the nature of the orders and the Greek temple and the orders have culminated in the book "Origins of Classical Architecture: temples, orders and gifts to the gods in ancient Greece" (Yale University Press, 2014).