Daily Updates
Week Nine: 15 November
15 November. Jackie Olson Reporting
Domitian's Palace
Domitian's Palace, resting on the southwest slopes of the Palatine, became a grand structure that housed the Roman emperors for 300 years. By being located on the Palatine near the hut of Romulus and the House of Augustus, the palace harks upon their legacies and their divine ancestries, Venus and Mars. Ancient sources cite Rabirius as the architect of this structure (Martial, Epigram 7.56), and a Sestertius, minted in AD 95-96, probably commemorates its completion. The beauty of the palace was insurmountable as every inch was covered in either marble or mosaic. The building itself consists of two contrasting sections: the public Domus Flavia, and the more private Domus Augustana. The two parts reflect Domitian's need to express his power and intimidate dissenters while having safe, private haven to calm his paranoia.
The Domus Flavia (in red on fig 1) served as the official, public section of the house. The space is dominated by a greek-style peristyle with colonnaded porticoes claimed by Suetonius to have been so highly polished that Domitian could see his enemies in the reflections in the walls (14.4). The northeast side(front facade) flanking the peristyle consists of three important rooms: the basilica (3), the Aula Regia (4), and a lararium (5). In a style borrowed from previous temples such as the Augustan temple to Mars Ultor and Julius Caesar's temple to Venus Genetrix, both the Basilica and the Aula Regia terminate in an apse on one end of their long axes. In the Aula Regia, guests would approach the emperor by walking along the spur walls of porphyry columns and alternating semi-circular and rectilinear niches containing 3.5 meter-high, green Bekhen sculpture before standing in front of the temple-like apse where the emperor sat. Likewise, the triclinium (7) to the south of the peristyle features an apse on axis with the apse and entrance of the Aula Regia. Its beautiful three-tier colonnade and flanking fountains (8,9) are remembered through Statius's great quote. To the northwest of the courtyard are a series of symmetrical curved walls and spaces (10-12) that perhaps served as waiting rooms for the official rooms. The only rooms not lying in line with the horizontal and vertical axes of the domus are the two libraries to the southwest, what are thought to predate the palace.
The Domus Augustana (outlined in blue on Fig 1), due to its private nature, is more difficult to describe. It is formed around three peristyles: two on the upper floor and one below. When laying the foundations, Rabirius needed to cut a flat platform into the steep side of the south slopes, and the dirt was moved to the top to form the Domus Flavia and Upper Domus Augustana while the lower platform served as the gardened hippodrome and lower rooms of the Domus Augustana. The first peristyles two lie practically in line with and symmetrical to the first peristyle and Aula Regia of the Domus Flavia. Such strict adherence to axial lines and symmetry contrasts greatly with the nature of the walls built by Rabirius. Many walls, especially those of the rooms on the upper and lower levels surrounding the third peristyle and within the peristyle itself, curve with multiple exedra or feature semicircular niches, creating an almost maze-like complex. Domitian's bedroom itself was a small chamber in depths the lower quarters, hidden from view and always guarded in his sleep ("B" on figure 1). In reaching his bedchamber, Domitian would have had to maneuver through most of the Domus Augustana complex, a stark change from the previous accessibility of cubiculae that flanked the main atria in Old Republican houses.
While much information regarding the uses of the individual rooms has been lost, the palace still stands as a tribute to the grandeur the imperial lives. It serves as an example of the slow progress away from the traditional styles of Roman homes, an end that was achieved accidentally through accommodating Domitian's personal needs as well as deliberately through integrating elements of religious architecture.
Bibliography:
Claridge, Amanda. The Oxford Archaeological Guides: Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. pp 132-141.
MacDonald, W.L. The Architecture of the Roman Empire, I: An introductory study. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965.
Sear, Frank. Roman Architecture. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1982. pp 146-153.
Floor plan of Palace. Domus Flavia is outlined in red, Domus Augustana is outlined in Blue, and lower level of Domus Augustana is outlined in green. After McDonald, plate 41
View from the North of the octagonal fountain in the center of the peristyle in the Domus Flavia.
View from the North of the Triclinium with apse on the right. (The hypocaust floor is a later addition.)
View of the restored fountain to the northwest of the triclinium. The original would have been covered in marble.
View of the upper and lower rooms on the northeast side of the lower peristyle. These private quarters were lit primarily through different leveled ceilings, windows and various light wells.
Example of the alternating rectilinear and circular niches found in the walls of the place (picture taken from the small southeast side of the Upper Domus Augustana facing the hippodrome).
View of the lower peristyle and its curving inner walls. This peristyle served as the main source of light for the lower rooms.
View of the hippodrome, which was surrounded by an arcaded, barrel vaulted portico. The weight of the barrel vault would have been distributed down the arches to the existing bases of the pillars with engaged columns.