Final Rome Site – Domus Aurea (Golden House)

October 21, 2018 · by Dano · in Italy

Way back in 64AD there was this fire, pretty big, so big that it destroyed all of the center of Rome. The fire raged for 9 days and consumed 10 of the 14 districts of Rome. How this blaze started has been a topic of debate for centuries. Some say it was the Emperor Nero, who had the fire started and sent groups of thugs to keep people from putting it out. Another thought is that it was summer, July 19^th, and Rome experienced many fires during the summer just because of the heat and the housing conditions.

Nero was in Antium, now called Anzio, at the time of the fire enjoying the cooler conditions of the coast. Now again there are differing accounts as to what happened next. One account says that Nero “played his fiddle” while Rome burned. Maybe. Another account says that Nero actually opened his palace to the citizens displaced by the fire, fed them and sheltered them, and personally searched for survivors without his personal guards. Again, maybe.

What we do know is that once the fire was extinguished, Nero seized the land for his personal palace, Domus Aurea-the Golden House. More than 80 hectares were taken for this palace that included gardens, libraries, greeting halls, a massive formal palace and an artificial lake right in the center. The lake you’ve already read about in this blog, it’s now the Colosseum. The other buildings are mostly destroyed, except one of the grand greeting halls in the area known as “Oppius”. The palace was located on Palatine Hill across the lake from Domus Aurea.

Domus Aurea was built in a little over 4 years starting immediately after the great fire. Teams of highly skilled masons, engineers, architects and a horde of general laborers worked tirelessly to finish the building as quickly as possible.

The results were amazing. A massive complex of halls, rooms, gardens all fed by natural light, covered in marble and with walls decorated in paintings highlighted by gold leaf, hence Domus Aurea. It must have been an overwhelming site to visit. Upon its’ completion, Nero reportedly said, “now I can live like a man”.

It was not to be. It took 4 years to build which makes that year 68AD when Nero signs the mortgage. But, because the Senate still disliked him and declared Nero a “public enemy” because he did, things like feed Christians to the lions and burn them alive, his days were numbered, and in single digits!

68 AD and Nero dies of assisted suicide. Kind of a funny story in itself. Nero, upon hearing he was declared a public enemy, decided to kill himself instead of being beaten to death in public at the forum. Somehow though, he just didn’t have the courage to do the job himself. He even asked one of his assistants to kill himself so he could see what it would be like. No takers. Finally, someone held the sword and Nero was helped onto it, game over. What’s funny is that once the Senate designated Nero a public enemy, they only wanted him returned to their council to negotiate his exile, not beat him to death. Guess he showed them who’s in charge!

So today we toured this excavation. I say excavation because they are still in the process of removing dirt and rock that was placed there after Nero’s death. Seems our buddy Vespasian (you know, builder of the Colosseum) didn’t care for Nero and ordered his complex destroyed and covered in dirt so he could build his palace, and the Colosseum, on top of it. Today, archeologists are going through the site and removing / restoring the original rooms and halls of the Domus Aurea. The only way to see this ancient site is with a guide and in small groups of 20 people. Everyone wears a hardhat in case something comes loose from the ceiling and no flash photography. The paintings are all original and have not been restored due to the ongoing work. Once everything has been excavated and a new drainage system installed, the paintings will be restored. For now, enjoy what we saw without a flash so may be a little shaky. It was one of the best sites we visited in our month in Rome. Definitely recommended.