Domus Aurea Research Paper

DOMUS AUREA

After the reign of Augustus came four emperors from the Julio-Claudian line, Nero being the last of these four. These emperors tried to not only to esteem Augustus but to construct and leave their own legacy within the Roman Empire. In this time, emperors usually sponsored the building of new aqueducts, temples, theaters, curie, and fora. They also built lavish fortresses for their own living and employed the most renowned architects and artist in Rome. The Domus Aurea, Nero’s personal theatrical palace, offers us the rare glimpse into the privileged lavish lifestyle of one of Rome’s most notorious Emperors. Domus Aurea “The Golden House” was a villa built by the Emperor Nero in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire of 64 AD. (Ball 2.) Domus Transitora, Nero’s first home was one of many structures destroyed in the great fire. This house wasn’t just any old house though, it was extravagant built to amaze and impress all those who saw it. Property that was not claimed was allotted as the land that Nero would begin construction on for his “palace”. The land stretched from the Palatine Hills to the Esquiline Hills. (Wiki). Construction on the Domus Aurea began after the fire of 64AD, on additional land previously occupied by three imperial properties; the Domus Tiberiana on Palatine
Hill, The Gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline Hill, and the unfinished Domus Transitoria which had been intended to connect the two structures. Many say he allowed the fire to spread so he would have the land to build this magnificent structure. The Golden House was magnificent beyond comprehension; the palace rooms was overlaid in gold leaf and embedded with the rarest jewels (such as pearls and rubies). In the banquet rooms the guest were inducted by flowers and perfumes from the ivory ceilings. One of the most famous of these rooms featured a circular roof painted with the stars and the planets that revolved mechanically imitating the movement of the stars. The palace constructed of a series of buildings scattered ranged over a countryside. Among the features of Domus Aurea was the construction of an artificial lake. The main building was exquisitely crafted, had rooms and hallway decorated almost entirely in gold. Yet, one of the most magnificent features of the Domus Aurea was the Colossus Neronis: a 36 meter bronze statue of Nero that was stationed just outside the entrance. The figurine was built in imitation of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Colossus was later on affixed with the heads of several emperors, until it was finally moved by Hadrian to the Amphitheatreum Flavium. The area of the property was approximately 985 feet long. Among the things there were encompassed in this compound was an amphitheater, a market, a bath-gymnasium complex, served by an aqueduct 50 miles long. Baths were served by a flow both salted water and sulphurous one from the Albulae springs near Tivoli. Upon the Caelian Hill there were beautiful gardens, zoos, woods and parks where all kinds of animals roamed. There were hundreds of statues, grottoes, fountains, nymphaeum, porticoes painted with romantic landscapes; multiple waterfalls flowed all over. (Ball 11). The lake was surrounded by woods and fake sea villages, and it was so big that ships could maneuver in it. Yet the emperor’s extraordinary palace was never actually fully completed. In 68 AD, Nero committed suicide after being convince he was condemned by the Senate as public enemy of Rome. His death not only brought an end to the Julio-Claudian reign that began with Augustus, it also brought with it the end of a dynasty ruled by cruelty, violence, and excessive lavishness. December of 69 AD brought with it a period of relative peace and calm that would last for more than a decade under the rule of Emperor Vespasian. Subsequent emperors, seeking to distance themselves from their detested predecessor, attempted to obliterate his memory but also all traces of Domus Aurea. Vespasian destroyed much of the golden palace by using its vast network of rooms and walls as a foundation for new construction. Vespasian drained the artificial lake and began construction on the Colosseum. In his ongoing mission to rid Rome of all memory of Nero, he added a crown to the statue Nero commissioned of himself. He rededicated the statue to the Roman sun god Sul. In 128 AD Hadrian dragged Nero’s statue down to its new home next to the Flavian Amphitheater, and soon that enormous sports complex garnered its eternal, world-famous nickname: “The Colosseum”.
Soon, the Domus Aurea was stripped of many of its beautiful decorations and the areas were filled in with earth providing an area prime for construction. On this area Trajan installed a baths complex over much of it in AD 98-117. (Ball 15). Domitian built his own palace on top of the Palatine section of the Golden House. After a while, the fabulous Golden House merely had become merely underground foundations for the growing city of
Rome. Domus Aurea was left undisturbed, abandoned and perhaps preserved underneath Rome for centuries. Until the late fifteenth century, to be exact, when a young boy fell through an opening on the side of the hill. Many of the greatest Italian painters and architects lowered themselves on ropes to see what they assumed to be caves. Instead, what they encountered led them to gain knowledge of what ancient Roman styles of painting looked like, that would eventually influence the art and architecture of the Renaissance.