During the Hellenistic period, Greek culture centered around individualism as they prided themselves on vast achievements that place importance in modern culture. Mainly influenced by Greek culture, the Romans built their society based on Greek mythology and their sophisticated architecture in the Hellenistic era. The building of the Greek Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon represent each civilization's culture as the location, function, and material indicate the meaning of art. Constructed in 432 AD, the Greek Parthenon faced rebuilding issues while Emperor Hadrian reestablished the Roman Pantheon in 126 AD. While the beauty depicted in the two temples conveys the importance of honoring religious figures in their societies, several differences influence the art of architecture. Various art historians and architects consider these sites a monumental peek inside the minds of the people of those times based on the depictions of the history recorded in those walls. The Greeks Parthenon and the Romans Pantheon share similar exterior designs, rebuilding processes, and building purposes, yet differ in vast quantities which reflect their religious beliefs as deduced from their architectural advancements.

In the case of the Greek Parthenon, the archaeologists, Iktinos and Kalikrates, sought to commemorate Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, and tell a story significant to the Greeks in both exterior and interior designs. They utilized skilled builders. In its exterior aspect, the temple was built on a hill for protective reasons as hostile outsiders would find such a location hard to invade. In addition, once the building was finished, it was closed off to the public as only elite members were granted access. On the other hand, the interior included doric columns which are placed at the top of columns with a circular structure. Also, the use of columns surrounding the building involved having forty six columns. The structure leaned towards a post and lintel, the support given to two beams held in a horizontal angle and had rectangular floors. The pathway included a pediment of both an east which entails Athena's birth and west to record the competitive feud of Athena and Poseidon to become the city's patron god. The material used to build the Parthenon was marble which prevented the use of various distinctive colors. Both the exterior and interior designs display sculptures in friezes, a long ending sculpture, dedicated to a religious procession of individuals walking in a ritual manner below the Gods. This religious display shows how important religion was to their lifestyle in which the last sculpture shows a young girl giving a gift to the Gods. Based on the advancement of exterior and interior designs, it is evident that these characterized the Greeks as skillful individuals - able to celebrate Athena while creating the human body in sculptural form.

On the other hand, the rebuilding of the Roman Pantheon suffered destruction due to the lack of building skills. The improved temple revolved to honor all Roman Gods as it functioned as a Christian church for a place to worship the Gods. Unlike the Parthenon, the interior is viewed as more imposing than the portrayal of the exterior aspect. The builders show a lack of skill in the fact that they decided to use moist land which resulted in the structure sinking. The building was open to all people of the public in order to pay respects to the Roman Gods, showing less of a divide in the social status of the Roman people, at least compared to the Greeks. In the architecture of the structure, the interior perspective transcends oculus, the center of a circular view to symbolize the entrance to heaven's function as a way for the Gods to embrace the gift of the temple. This light source allowed for the advantage of installing concave floors which protected individuals from the rain as the water dripped on the center of the floor. This shows that religion played an important role in Roman culture as they found a way for individuals to connect with the Gods. In addition, the concave floors indicate another mistake of the Romans as the Parthenon illustrates lack of architecture knowledge during this period. The structure used a spherical shape as seen in the intersecting circles that created more space and used granite columns to elevate this design. As the Parthenon relied on a horizontal angle, the Romans created more space with an arch that vertically carved to support weight. The Romans utilized more materials with the help of granite, marble, concrete, and brick. The Romans showed the importance of religion as they used the area for tombs of those in royal positions which indicates they highly valued them. While viewing the location of the temple, oculus view, the materials used, the Roman culture faced improvements in their society as they sought to find representation.

The structural purpose of both the Parthenon and Pantheon was intended to be built as a temple in order to honor their religious beliefs. The sculptures depicted in the friezes and the architecture of the oculus showed both deeply cared for religion and religious figures. Regardless of the different stories, both temples face destruction. The destruction of the Greek Parthenon came in the form of fire, while for the Romans lack of properly skilled workers led to the fall of the temple. In the structural aspect, both relied on columns to support the horizontal and vertical weight. For the material, both used marble and did not make the walls colorful. Based on the purpose and motivation fueled by religion , both cultures represented religious figures similarly as the Romans based their ideology on the Greeks beliefs.