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Athena Review Image Archive  

Rome: Plan of Domus Aurea and Baths of Trajan

A newly found mural in Rome is probably part of a series of Pompeian-style frescoes in the vast Domus Aurea (Golden House) built by the Emperor Nero in AD 64-68, now 9-10 m underground. An unknown city scene in the mural may be Rome itself before the Great Fire of AD 64, after which Nero erected his luxurious new palace complex with lakes, forests, and vineyards. Soon after Nero’s death, the palace and grounds, encompassing one square mile, were built over by the Colosseum, Baths of Titus, Baths of Trajan, and Temple of Venus and Rome. Brick arches of the vast edifice of Trajan’s baths, begun in AD 104, intrude into the room holding the newly found fresco.

[Fig.1: Plan of the Domus Aurea and overlying Baths (after Lanciani 1888; Athena Review).]

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