The Palatine Hill, the site of Augustus’s home, the House of Livia, and the wattle-and-daub hut attributed to Romulus, continued through the imperial centuries as the location of the royal residence. Indeed, the name of the hill often denoted the residence: the Palatium, or, in English, the palace.
Tiberius, Augustus’s successor, replaced the modest House of Livia with a grander residence on the north side of the hill overlooking the Forum Romanum. This, the Domus Tiberiana, was refurbished in the late first century by the Flavian emperor Domitian, and supplemented by a much larger palace on the south half of the hill, the Domus Augustiana (or Augustana), multistoried, full of dramatic views and architectural surprises, the design of the architect Rabirius.
The Flavian Palace, as we might call the new building, consisted of two sections, one public or official, the other private (Figure 23.6). Entry into the official part came from the north, through a modest off-center doorway into a plain but large vaulted room. From there one entered the north side, with three state rooms. The basilica, a rectangular hall with an apse at the south end, was roofed with a barrel vault, unusual for the period. The center room served as the royal audience hall, with
The imperial throne placed in the apse at the south. The smallest of the three rooms was the lararium, the shrine for the household gods. To the south of this block lay a peristyle court, flanked by small rooms with curvilinear plans; beyond the court one reached the triclinium, the large formal banquet hall. Doors opened from the long sides of this room onto gardens with oval fountains.
By passing from the peristyle court into an adjacent peristyle garden, one entered the private sector of the palace. From this point the hill sloped down toward the Circus; in compensation, the palace became multi-storied. In fact, a formal entrance existed on the lowest level, through a curving portico on the south; one then proceeded into a court with a fountain. North of the court lay octagonal rooms with domed roofs, successors of the octagonal dining room of the Domus Aurea. The influence of the Domus Aurea is seen as well in the frequent use of curvilinear spaces, made possible by the use of concrete.
To the east of this private block was a large garden in the shape of a stadium, 160m x 50m, lined on three sides by a two-storied portico. From its south end the imperial box overlooked the Circus Maximus. Direct access from palace to viewing stand is a design feature that will be repeated in the fourth century capital, Constantinople.
World History
