Aurelia Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 The extravagant palace of Emperor Nero, the Domus Aurea, which boasts some 300 rooms covered in dazzling polished white marble, was first uncovered in 2009 by a team of French and Italian archaeologists. Now, the luxurious palace has just revealed another surprise – a revolving dining room which once served the illustrious guests of the infamous ruler. Archaeologists have called the 2,000-year-old revolving platform one of the most peculiar and sophisticated structures of antiquity. The discovery confirms a description of the palace by ancient historian Suetonius. News article continues here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 (edited) That is a bizarre article that seems to muddle the facts, at least as they were reported here 4 years ago... I even visited the "discovery" then. The background of the author seems to be mainly in spiritualism and meditation: http://www.ancient-origins.net/users/aprilholloway . She has an article on Vikings that seems even more devoid of news but rather a googled rehash with catchy photos. BTW you can click to bring up her original Nero article with better photos. EDIT: if you don't switch to the original version of the article http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/revolving-dining-room-emperor-nero-s-luxurious-palace-really-existed-001824 you only see ENTIRELY irrelevant photos from about a half mile away parts of the palace. As I understand it, Nero's palace wasn't discovered in 2009 but rather closed to tourists around then due to water erosion (some drastic remedy was recently proposed). In 2009 they appeared to find the revolving dining room, and I looked down the hole in 2010. Even if you switch to the "original" web version of her article, it still suggests these have just been discovered. That version shows a deeper hole than I saw in 2010, and a reconstruction. So I don't know if there is news here, other than their polished web site may not be very trustable. As for the dining room, it seems to me more like a narrow doughnut layout rather than spacious dome. In words they give a more grand impression, and the illustrations seem to contradict one another. But if you focus on the pillar, note how little space there is to the walls beyond. Edited July 7, 2014 by caesar novus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 You are right, caesar novus. Now that I've looked into the background history of the Domus Aurea, this article does indeed seem to be a rehash of former news reports dating back to 2009. So the "journalist" seems to have got the dates confused: as you said, the revolving dining room rather than the Domus Aurea itself was first "discovered" in 2009. Oops Anyway, thanks for pointing it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onasander Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/17686-rome-seeks-%C2%A325-million-to-save-emperor-neros-lavish-palace/ The ghost of Nero is reaching out from beyond the dead to drop one last, extravagant spending spree on the people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.