The Domus Aurea (Latin for "Golden House") was a large landscaped "portico villa", designed to take advantage of artificially created landscapes, rather than a monumental palace,^[1] built in the heart of Ancient Rome by the Roman emperor Nero after Great fire of Rome, which devastated Rome in 64 AD, had cleared away the aristocratic dwellings on the slopes of the Esquiline Hill.^[2] Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably since its invention towards the end of the Roman Republic. ... The quintessential medieval European palace: Palais de la Cité, in Paris, the royal palace of France. ... Area under Roman control  Roman Republic  Roman Empire  Western Empire  Eastern Empire Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... Nero[1] Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, AD 37 – June 9, AD 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. ... According to Tacitus, the Great Fire of Rome started on the night of 19 July in the year 64, among the shops clustered around the Circus Maximus. ... Area under Roman control  Roman Republic  Roman Empire  Western Empire  Eastern Empire Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... July 18 - Great fire of Rome: A fire began to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burned completely out of control while Emperor Nero allegedly played his lyre and sang while watching the blaze from a safe distance, although there is no hard evidence to support this... The Esquiline Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. ...

History

Construction

Statue of a muse in the newly reopened Domus Aurea.

Built of brick and concrete in the few years between the fire and Nero's suicide in 68, the extensive gold-leaf that gave it you suck its name was not the only extravagant element of its decor: stuccoed ceilings were applied with semi-precious stones and veneers of ivory while the walls were frescoed, coordinating the decoration into different themes in each major group of rooms.^[3] Pliny the Elder watched it being built and mentions it in his Naturalis Historia.^[4] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 448 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2075 × 2778 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 448 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2075 × 2778 pixel, file size: 2. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ...

Suetonius claims this of Nero and the Domus Aurea:

When the edifice was finished in this style and he dedicated it, he deigned to say nothing more in the way of approval than that he was at last beginning to be housed like a human being.^[5]

Though the Domus Aurea complex covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian hills, with a man-made lake in the marshy bottomlands, the estimated size of the Domus Aurea is an approximation, as much of it has not been excavated. Some scholars place it at over 300 acres,^[6] while others estimate its size to have been under 100 acres.^[7] Suetonius describes the complex as "ruinously prodigal" as It included groves of trees, pastures with flocks, vineyards and an artificial lake— rus in urbe, "Countryside in the city". Nero also commissioned from the Greek Zenodorus a colossal 35.5 m (120 RF) high bronze statue of himself, the Colossus Neronis. ^[5] Pliny the Elder, however, puts its height at only 30.3 m (106.5 RF),^[8]. The statue was placed just outside the main palace entrance at the terminus of the Via Appia^[5] in a large atrium of porticoes that divided city from the private villa. ^[9] This statue may have represented Nero as the sun god Sol, as Pliny saw some resemblance^[10]. This idea is widely accepted among scholars^[11] but some are convinced that Nero was not identified with Sol while he was alive.^[12] The face of the statue was modified shortly after Nero’s death during Vespasian’s reign to make it truly a statue of Sol.^[12] Hadrian moved it, with the help of the architect Decrianus and 24 elephants,^[13] to a position next to the Flavian Amphitheater. This building took the name "Colosseum" in the Middle Ages, after the statue nearby. 17th century aviaries on the hill, built by Rainaldi for Odoardo Cardinal Farnese: once wirework cages surmounted them. ... The Esquiline Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. ... The Caelian Hill (Latin Collis Caelius, Italian Celio) is one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. ... The ancient Roman units of measurement were built on the Greek system with Egyptian influences. ... The great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of bronze for edged weapons. ... Remains of the Appian Way in Rome, Italy The Appian Way (Latin: Via Appia) is a famous road built by the Romans. ... Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (November 17, 9–June 23, 79), known originally as Titus Flavius Vespasianus and usually referred to in English as Vespasian, was emperor of Rome from 69 to 79. ... Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was a Stoic-Epicurean Roman emperor from 117 – 138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ... The Colosseum in Rome, Italy The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater (lat. ... The Colosseum by night: exterior view of the best-preserved section. ...

The Golden House was a party villa, as shown by the presence of 300 rooms without any sleeping quarter. Nero's own palace remained on the Quirinal Hill. Strangely, no kitchens or latrines have been rediscovered yet either. An etching of the Hill, crowned by the mass of the Palazzo del Quirinale, from a series I Sette Colli di Roma antica e moderna published in 1827 by Luigi Rossini (1790 - 1857): his view, from the roof of the palazzo near the Trevi Fountain that now houes the Accademia...

Rooms sheathed in dazzling polished white marble were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras that concentrated or dispersed the daylight. There were pools in the floors and fountains splashing in the corridors. Nero took great interest in every detail of the project, according to Tacitus' Annals, and oversaw the engineer-architects, Celer and Severus, who were also responsible for the attempted navigable canal with which Nero hoped to link Misenum with Lake Avernus^[14] Florentine Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi placed his Madonna of the 1440s within a simulated shell-headed niche The niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. ... An exedra adopted by James Cameron for a neoclassical interior space, at the Hermitage In architecture an exedra is a semicircular recess, often crowned by a half-dome, which is usually set into a buildings facade. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... The Annals, or, in Latin, Annales, is a history book by Tacitus covering the reign of the 4 Roman Emperors succeeding to Caesar Augustus. ... Misemen is the site of an ancient port in Campania, in southern Italy. ... Lake Avernus by Leo C. Curran (1997) Lake Avernus is located in the Southern part of Italy near Cumae and the Bay of Naples. ...

The style of wall paintings in Domus Aurea inspired Raphael's Vatican Stanze and 18th-century Neoclassicism alike.

Some of the kiss me im irishextravagances of the Domus Aurea had repercussions for the future. The architects designed two of the principal dining rooms to flank an octagonal court, surmounted by a dome with a giant central oculus to let in light.^[2] It was probably the first use of a dome that was not in a temple dedicated to the gods, such as the Pantheon, and an early use of concrete construction. One innovation was destined to have an enormous influence on the art of the future: Nero placed mosaics, previously restricted to floors, in the vaulted ceilings. Only fragments have survived, but that technique was to be copied extensively, eventually ending up as a fundamental feature of Christian art: the apse mosaics that decorate so many churches in Rome, Ravenna, Sicily and Constantinople. Image File history File links Domusaurea. ... Image File history File links Domusaurea. ... The Raphael Rooms (also called the Raphael Stanze or, in Italian, Stanze di Raffaello) in the Palace of the Vatican are papal apartments with frescoes painted by the Italian artist Raphael and his workshop. ... Facade of the Pantheon The Pantheon (Latin Pantheon[1], from Greek Πάνθεον Pantheon, meaning Temple of all the Gods) is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome, but which has been a... Concrete being poured, raked and vibrated into place in residential construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ...

Celer and Severus also created an ingenious mechanism, cranked by slaves, that made the ceiling underneath the dome revolve like the heavens, while perfume was sprayed and rose petals were dropped on the assembled diners. According to some accounts, perhaps embellished by Nero's political enemies, on one occasion such quantities of rose petals were dropped that one unlucky guest was asphyxiated (a similar story is told of the emperor Elagabalus). A bust depicting Elagabalus. ...

"Nero gave the best parties, ever," archaeologist Wallace-Hadrill told an interviewer when the Golden House was reopened to visitors in 1999 after being closed for years for restorations. "Three hundred years after his death, tokens bearing his head were still being given out at public spectacles - a memento of the greatest showman of them all." Nero, who was obsessed with his status as an artist, certainly regarded parties as works of art.

Frescoes covered every surface that wasn't more richly finished. The main artist was one Famulus (or Fabulus according to some sources). Fresco technique, working on damp plaster, demands a speedy and sure touch: Famulus and his studio covered a spectacular amount of area. Pliny, in his Natural History, recounts how Famulus went for only a few hours each day to the Golden House, to work while the light was right. The swiftness of Famulus's execution gives a wonderful unity to his compositions and astonishing delicacy to their execution. Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ...

Pliny the Elder presents Amulius^[15] as one of the principal painters of the domus aurea.

Damnatio memoriae

The Domus Aurea still lies under the ruins of the Baths of Trajan (shown here) and the surrounding park.

Evidence of algae damage, February 2007

After Nero's death, the Golden House was a severe embarrassment to his successors. It was stripped of its marble, its jewels and its ivory within a decade. Soon after Nero’s death, the palace and grounds, encompassing 2.6 km² (c. 1 mi²), were filled with earth and built over: the Baths of Titus were already being built on part of the site in 79 AD. On the site of the lake, in the middle of the palace grounds, Vespasian built the Flavian Amphitheatre, which could be reflooded at will, with the Colossus Neronis beside it.^[2] The Baths of Trajan^[2], and the Temple of Venus and Rome were also built on the site. Within 40 years, the Golden House was completely obliterated, buried beneath the new constructions, but paradoxically this ensured the wallpaintings' survival by protecting them from the damp. Image File history File links Domusaurea. ... Image File history File links Domusaurea. ... The Baths of Trajan, begun in AD 104 AD, were a massive bathing and leisure complex. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2112 × 2816 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2112 × 2816 pixel, file size: 2. ... The Baths of Titus (AD 81) were public baths (Thermae) built in Rome by Emperor Titus. ... Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (November 17, 9–June 23, 79), known originally as Titus Flavius Vespasianus and usually referred to in English as Vespasian, was emperor of Rome from 69 to 79. ... The Colosseum in Rome, Italy The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater (lat. ... Roman public baths in Bath, England. ... The Temple apsis by night. ...

Renaissance

When a young Roman inadvertently fell through a cleft in the Aventine hillside at the end of the 15th century, he found himself in a strange cave or grotta filled with painted figures. Soon the young artists of Rome were having themselves let down on boards knotted to ropes to see for themselves. The fourth style frescoes that were uncovered then have faded to pale gray stains on the plaster now, but the effect of these freshly-rediscovered grottesche^[17] decorations was electrifying in the early Renaissance, which was just arriving in Rome. When Pinturicchio, Raphael and Michelangelo crawled underground and were let down shafts to study them, carving their names on the walls to let the world know they had been there, the paintings were a revelation of the true world of antiquity. Beside the graffiti signatures of later tourists, like Casanova and the Marquis de Sade scratched into a fresco inches apart (British Archaeology June 1999), are the autographs of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Martin van Heemskerck, and Filippino Lippi [1]. The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills that ancient Rome was built on. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mother Nature is surrounded by grottesche in this fresco detail from Villa dEste When commonly used in conversation, grotesque means strange, fantastic, ugly or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks or gargoyles on churches. ... Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ... The Crucifixion with Sts Jerome and Christopher (1471) Oil on wood, 59 x 40 cm Galleria Borghese, Rome Pinturicchio (1454-1513), Italian painter, whose full name was Bernardino di Betti. ... Raphael or Raffaello (April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520) was an Italian master painter and architect of the Florentine school in High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings. ... Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. ... Giacomo Casanova “Casanova” redirects here. ... Portrait of the Marquis de Sade by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (c. ... An Old Man with a Strawberry Nose (1480). ... Construction of the new St Peters in Rome by Maerten van Heemskerck (c. ... Filippino Lippi, self-portrait Biography Filippino Lippi (ca. ...

It was even claimed that various classical artworks found at this time - such as the Laocoön and his Sons and Venus Kallipygos - were found within or near the Domus's remains, though this is now accepted as unlikely (high quality artworks would have been removed - to the Temple of Peace, for example - before the Domus's demolition). Statue of Laocoön and his Sons, Vatican Museums, Rome The statue of Laocoön and his Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. ... Callipygian-type Venus, Naples The Callipygian Venus or Venus Kallipygos, (In Greek, Aphrodite Kallipygos: Aphrodite of the Beautiful Buttocks), is a type of nude female statue of the Hellenistic era. ... Map of the forums The Imperial Forums consist of a series of monumental fora (public squares), constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The forums were the heart of the late Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire. ...

The frescoes's effect on Renaissance artists was instant and profound (it can be seen most obviously in Raphael's decoration for the loggias in the Vatican), and the white walls, delicate swags, and bands of frieze — framed reserves containing figures or landscapes — have returned at intervals ever since, notably in late 18th century Neoclassicism, making Fabullus one of the most influential painters in the history of art. Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ...

20th century to present

But discovery meant letting in moisture - and that started the slow, inevitable process of decay. Heavy rain was blamed in the collapse of a chunk of ceiling.^[18]

Increasing concerns about the condition of the building and the safety of visitors resulted in it being closed again at the end of 2005, for further restoration work. The complex was partially reopened on February 6, 2007. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ...

According to the current administrative boo division of the center of Rome, it is placed in rione Monti. A map of the center of Rome with its rioni The word rione (pl. ... Monti is the name of the rione I of Rome and it literally means mountains in Italian. ...

Commercial uses

The name Domus Aurea has in modern times come to signify wealth, opulence, and luxury. Commercial uses of the name have grown, ranging from luxury hotels to fine wines using the same name to market themselves to a segment of consumers that are aware of the historical significance as well as the indication of affluence that goes with the name Domus Aurea.

Notes

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is a encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. ... Mother Nature is surrounded by grottesche in this fresco detail from Villa dEste When commonly used in conversation, grotesque means strange, fantastic, ugly or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks or gargoyles on churches. ...

Sources

• Ball, Larry F. (2003). The Domus Aurea and the Roman architectural revolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521822513. 
• Boethius, Axel (1960). The Golden House of Nero. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. 
• Claridge, Amanda (1998). Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. New York: Oxford University. ISBN 0192880039. 
• Palmer, Alasdair (1999-07-11), "Nero's pleasure dome", London Sunday Times
• Romey, Kristin M. (July/August 2001). "The Rain in Rome" (HTML). Archaeology 54 (4): 20. ISSN: 0003-8113. Retrieved on 2007-02-12. 
• Roth, Leland M. (1993). Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History and Meaning, First, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 227-8. ISBN 0-06-430158-3. 
• Pliny, C. Secundus (c. 77). Natural History.
• Segala, Elisabetta; Ida Sciortino (1999). Domus Aurea. Electa. ISBN 8843571648. 
• Spartianus, Aelius (117-284). Historia Augusta: The Life of Hadrian.
• Warden, P.G. (1981). "The Domus Aurea Reconsidered". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 40: 271-278. 

HTML, short for HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for the creation of web pages. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ...

External links

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Domus Aurea

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• Golden House of Nero for Kids