Page 179 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

ESQUILINE  177

Far East there are collections However, water ducts have also gardens and woods where
of Japanese screen paintings been discovered and it may imported wild beasts were
and Chinese jade. well have been a nympheum – allowed to roam free. According
The most unusual exhibits a kind of summerhouse – with to Suetonius in his Life of Nero,
are the finds from the Italian fountains. Traces of frescoes the palace walls were adorned
excavation of the ancient remain on the walls: you can with gold and mother-of-pearl,
civilization of Swat in northeast make out garden scenes and rooms had ceilings that
Pakistan. This fascinating a procession of miniature showered guests with flowers
Gandhara culture lasted from the figures – including one of a or perfumes, the dining hall
3rd century BC to about the 10th characteristically drunken rotated, and the baths were
century AD. Its wonderfully exotic, Dionysus (the Greek god of fed with both sulfurous water
sensual reliefs show an unusual wine) being propped upright and seawater.
combination of Hellenistic, by a satyr. Tacitus described Nero’s
Buddhist, and Hindu influences. debauched garden parties, with
banquets served on barges and
q Sette Sale lakeside brothels serviced by
aristocratic women. Since Nero
Via delle Terme di Traiano. Map 5 C5.
Tel 06-0608. @ 85, 87, 117, 186, 810, killed himself in AD 68, however,
850. v 3. q Colosseo. Open by he did not have long to enjoy
appt; call in advance. his new home.
Nero’s successors, anxious
Not far from Nero’s Domus to distance themselves from
Aurea is the cistern of the Sette the monster-emperor, did their
Sale. It was built here to supply utmost to erase all traces of the
the enormous quantities of palace. Vespasian drained the
water needed for the Baths of lake and built the Colosseum
Trajan. These were built for (see pp94–7) in its place, Titus
Emperor Trajan in AD 104 on and Trajan each erected a
parts of the Domus Aurea that complex of baths over the
had been damaged by a fire. palace, and Hadrian placed
A set of stairs leads down into the Temple of Venus and Rome
the cistern, well below street (see p89) over the vestibule.
Nepalese Bodhisattva in the Museo level. There is not much to see Rooms from one wing of the
Nazionale d’Arte Orientale here now, but a walk through palace have survived, buried
the huge, echoing cistern where beneath the ruins of the Baths
0 Auditorium light rays illuminate the watery of Trajan on the Oppian hill.
surfaces is still an evocative
Excavations have revealed
of Maecenas experience. The nine sections, large frescoes and mosaics
98 ft (30 m) long and 16 ft which are thought to be a
Largo Leopardi 2. Map 6 D5.
Tel 06-0608. @16, 714. q Vittorio (5 m) wide, had a capacity of panorama of Rome from
Emanuele. Open by appt; call in 8 million liters. a bird’s-eye perspective.
advance. ^ 7 Visitors are advised to bring a
jacket as the temperature inside
Maecenas, a fop, gourmet, and w Domus Aurea is around 50°F (10°C).
patron of the arts, was also an Viale della Domus Aurea. Map 5 C5.
astute adviser and colleague Tel 06-3996 7700. @ 85, 87, 117, 186,
of the Emperor Augustus. 810, 850. v 3. q Colosseo. Open for
Fabulously rich, he created a guided tours on weekends only; call in
fantastic villa and gardens on advance. & 8 = 9
the Esquiline hill, most of which
has long disappeared beneath After allegedly setting fire to
the modern city. The partially Rome in AD 64, Nero decided
reconstructed auditorium, to build himself an outrageous
isolated on a traffic island, is new palace. The Domus Aurea
all that remains. (sometimes called Nero’s
Inside, a semicircle of tiered Golden House) occupied part
seats suggests that it may have of the Palatine and most of the
been a place for readings and Celian and Esquiline hills – an
performances. If it was, then area approximately 25 times
Maecenas would have been the size of the Colosseum. The
entertained here by his vestibule on the Palatine side
protégés, the lyric poet Horace of the complex contained a
and Virgil, author of the Aeneid, colossal gilded statue of Nero. Frescoed room in the ruins of the
reading their latest works. There was an artificial lake, with Domus Aurea

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