Roman Romps and Rotations
by Welcome to the Pleasure Dome! A weird and rather bizarre discovery by Italian archaeologists in Rome.
Archaeologists in Rome have made an interesting discovery. They think they may have unearthed the site of a Roman rotating dining room – renowned for being one of Emperor Nero’s more fantastic and extravagant architectural feats!
Reference to this rotating dining room was made by Roman historian Suetonius in “Lives of the Caesars”. This dining room (the coenatio rotunda) was discovered amongst the ruins of the Golden Palace (Domus Aurea) on Palatine Hill in Rome. The palace was built in the 1st century AD. So far the dig has uncovered supporting pillars (one about 4 metres – around 12 ft) and a perimeter wall which would have been able to support a circular floor of around 50 ft in diameter. One of the archaeologists has revealed to the press that the circular shape of the building and the stone spheres had, not unnaturally, led the team to believe they’d discovered the dining room. There’s no doubt that if this is indeed the case it’ll certainly be a unique and exciting find. Rome’s commissioner for archaeology has announced a new fund to delve a bit deeper, so to speak!
A Bit More Info on the Palace
According to various writings of the time, the palace wasn’t just one building, but was made up of a range of buildings. Nero, rather than go for the bog standard lion statues at the gated entrance, instead decided to regale it with a 120 ft high bronze statue of himself!! Once you’d found the palace – which obviously wouldn’t seem too difficult and probably wouldn’t have required Sat Nav - the grounds were fantastic. They contained an amphitheatre, a bath complex which was filled by a 50 mile long aqueduct, waterfalls, zoos, and, of course, yet more statues!
If that wasn’t enough to take your breath away, the inside of the palace would be sure to completely gob-smack you and leave you speechless. It was decorated with rare stones and mother-of-pearl. Suetonius set out in more detail the delights of the palace – he would have made a great estate agent! – by saying that “all the dining rooms had ceilings of fretted ivory, the panels of which could slide back and let a rain of flowers or perfume from hidden sprinklers fall on (Nero’s) guests. The chief banqueting room was circular and revolved perpetually night and day, in imitation of the celestial bodies”.
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Post CommentFrosty Johnson
On October 13, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Good post i love hearing stuff about the Romans.
lillyrose
On October 14, 2009 at 10:56 am
I always found the Romans quite exciting but I think Nero pushed the boundaries just a tad to far! my goodness, they will uncover a gimp mask next! Fantastic article told me all I needed and wanted to know!
mystery writter
On October 14, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I like Roman history but history period it seems.A well put together well worth reading article.Disnt know much about Nero but I do now thanks to your article.Nereo sounded like a charactor and a half and wonder what else they will find.
Katien
On October 14, 2009 at 6:47 pm
An absorbing description of Nero’s lifestyle. The goings on sound almost as bad as Eastenders! (TV soap in UK).
deklin42
On October 14, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Mever been to Rome. Now i want to.
suruchi
On October 15, 2009 at 9:54 am
good article about Rome.. i really liked it.
jessymai
On October 15, 2009 at 10:36 am
It will be interesting to discover how the dining room turned. I favour the water theory but that period in history is full of surprises.
Valerie Curtiss
On October 15, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Being British, our family must have some roman ancestors, as looking at pictures, they do sport the Roman nose. I now live in the US, in Montana but like to read historic novels and your article was well written.
dawngordon
On October 15, 2009 at 1:54 pm
interesting, then apparently the man went nuts and burned a city or something, and I thought nero killed himself..interesting find
Sourav
On October 15, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Lovely piece of history. Thanks for this historic journey!
Adam Henry Sears
On October 15, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Looks like Nero was a sick man. Interesting article. I too like learning of some of Ancient Rome’s customs and mysteries. Good job on this one; the writing style fits the material.
Just one thing: “In 64AD the well documented Great Fire of Rome took place when around two-thirds of the city were [[should be was]] destroyed.” If you were talking about thirds the verb form would be were, but you are talking about a city, so the verb form is was.
Thanks for sharing, and have a good day.