RT Article
T1 Nero’s “Solar” Kingship and the Architecture of the Domus Aurea
JF Numen
VO 63
IS 5/6
SP 511
OP 524
A1 Hannah, Robert
A1 Magli, Giulio
A1 Palmieri, Antonella
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2016
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1554654173
AB The Domus Aurea, Nero’s last “palace” constructed in the very heart of ancient Rome, is a true masterpiece of Roman architecture. We explore here symbolic aspects of the emperor’s project, analyzing the archaeoastronomy of the best preserved part of the Domus, the Esquiline Wing. In particular, we study the so-called Octagonal Room, the huge vaulted room which is in many respects a predecessor of the Pantheon. The project of the room turns out to be connected with astronomy, as is Hadrian’s Pantheon sixty years later. Indeed, the divinization and “solarization” of the emperor — placed at the equinoxes as a point of balance in the heavens — are shown to be explicitly referred to in the rigorous orientation of the plan and in the peculiar geometry of the design of the dome.
K1 Domus Aurea : Nero : Roman archaeoastronomy : Roman religion
DO 10.1163/15685276-12341436