The name Rolls-Royce has long been synonymous with luxury performance. There’s good reason for that, as the English automaker has been producing high-end performance vehicles for well over a century, and shows no sign of stopping.

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Rolls-Royce takes a whole-car approach to luxury, with its vehicles projecting opulence at every conceivable junction, both inside and out. Of course, outside is the first thing most people see when they happen across a Rolls-Royce in the automotive wilds. Apart from their majestic lines,  many people key on the iconic “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament, one of the most famous car hood ornaments in history. But a case could be made that the radiator grille just a few inches below is every bit as distinctive.

That lavishly stylish design feature actually has a name, with Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce dubbing it the “Pantheon” grille. It’s a name that boasts historical significance, with its origins charting back to the time of the Romans. Here’s a brief look at the Pantheon grille’s place in Rolls-Royce’s own history.

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If you’re a student of history, you’ve likely already surmised that Rolls-Royce’s Pantheon grille takes its title from the Roman structure of the same name. Given Rolls-Royce’s mission to manufacture automobiles for the luxury-minded, it seems only fitting that its founders would choose to give a sly nod to the opulent days of the Roman Empire. Still, using the Pantheon as inspiration for a car’s front grille no doubt took some boss-level gall, as it’s hardly a structure that easily lends itself to use in car design.

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For those unfamiliar with the Pantheon, work began on it in the year 27 BC. While the temple-styled structure was rebuilt and altered several times in the days of the Roman Empire, it almost always consisted of two key features — a domed ceiling and a front porch consisting of a vaulted ceiling and Corinthian columns. It was the latter feature that designers borrowed for the front grilles of vehicles like the long-in-production Rolls-Royce Phantom, making them distinct among the many mass-produced automobiles on the road.

The Pantheon-inspired grille is a bit of a design marvel in its own right, boasting skinnier columns on the outside and wider ones toward the middle. The approach creates a sort of optical illusion, giving the appearance of complete symmetry when viewed straight on. Such consideration gives Rolls-Royces an aesthetic appeal that few other manufacturers even aspire to.

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The Pantheon grille has been part of the Rolls-Royce look since the brand’s earliest days, with co-founders Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce debuting the look in their first, and still one of the best Rolls-Royce models, the 10 HP. The feature instantly became a staple of the company’s design ethos, with some form of the Pantheon grille adorning pretty much every car that has rolled off the company’s production lines in its more than 120 years of existence.

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Of course, automobile design in the modern world is a far cry from what it was in the early 1900s, when Rolls-Royce was still in its infancy. So the massive front grilles that adorned those early Rolls-Royces have long disappeared. So, too, have the more outlandishly opulent lines and features that once formed the crux of the Rolls-Royce look.

But even as Rolls-Royce’s design elements have gone the way of sleeker and more streamlined, the company has managed to keep its fronte-nd concept more or less intact via the “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament, the “RR” badge, and yes, the Pantheon grille. Though decidedly smaller than it used to be, that grille is as classy and distinctive as ever in fronting vehicles like the Read-approved Ghost Series II, and it remains a key part of what makes a Rolls-Royce a Roll-Royce.

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