Private
residence of the emperor with small rooms alternated to spacious areas all arranged around the
peristyle
The
construction was based on two levels: an upper level at the same height
of the Domus
Flavia, and a lower one about 12 m (40 feet) below
The upper
floor was arranged around a large peristyle colonnade in the center with a pool
of water and a small temple on high podium at the center, maybe dedicated to
Minerva
In one of
the rooms around the peristyle there is the LOGGIA MATTEI with a set of columns
It was
reduced to a room in 1595 when the owners, members of the Mattei family, had
the ceiling built as a vault
The
recently restored frescoes (about 1520) were reintegrated with the round zodiac
signs returned by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, while the painted walls
are preserved in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
At the
bottom center of the peristyle is a fountain with pattern of peltae
(small shields) facing each other
Façade of
the Domus Augustana on the Circus Maximus, which was originally made out of a
two-story colonnade to allow the emperor and his court to watch the races
It is in
fact a complex of buildings related in part to Nero's Domus Transitoria (temporary
house) and partly to the Domus Aurea (golden house)
Above the
Domus Transitoria, destroyed by fire in AD 64, were laid the foundations of the
Domus Aurea, never finished, that Domitian reused for its imperial palace
Structure
of the Domitian's period (81/96)
It was
believed to be the school for the imperial servants (Pedagogium), which
is, however, known to have been on the Celium Hill
The name
comes from one of the graffiti of the Severan period visible in one of the
rooms (“exit de paedagogio”)
One of the
most famous graffiti is a crucifix with a donkey's head and Greek inscription: “Alexamenos
worships (his) god”. Probably a very early mockery of the Christian
religion
It was most
likely the residence of the imperial pages
It was
excavated in mid-1800s for Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the owner of the area at
the time
Double row
of small rooms with mosaics and plastered along a peristyle arbitrarily rebuilt
by Luigi Canina (1795/1856) using parts not
belonging to the building
Structure
of the Septimius Severus' period (193/235)
In a room
on the walls there are a number of male figures in natural size as well as a
floor mosaic with a procession of eight men carrying a banner
It was
therefore believed that this building was the Domus Praeconum, the seat of
the college for the heralds
An
inscription however identify it more convincingly as the Seat of Nuntii
Circi, messengers of the circus
No comments:
Post a Comment