Palace of Domitian

History

The palace was designed by the architect Rabirius. It was built on top of earlier buildings, notably Nero's Domus Transitoria and the Republican House of the Griffins, significant remains of which have been discovered.

Under Septimius Severus a large extension was added along the southwestern slope of the hill overlooking the Circus Maximus, but otherwise the bulk of the Palace as constructed under Domitian remained remarkably intact for the remainder of the Empire. The Palace functioned as the official residence of the Roman Emperors until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.

The palace was renovated under Theodoric the Great (r.493-526) the Ostrogothic King of Italy in the 6th century using the receipts from a specially levied tax.

The Garden or "stadium"

The so-called "Hippodrome" or "Stadium" of Domitian (160 x 48 m) extends over the entire eastern side of the Domus Augustana. It has the appearance of a Roman Circus but is too small to accommodate chariots. In reality, it was a large and elaborate sunken garden, similar to the earlier one at the Roman Villa of Pliny "in Tuscis", and most of the statuary in the nearby Palatine museum comes from the Stadium. Domitian enjoyed this form of garden as shown by the one he also built at his country villa in the Alban Hills. It may have been used as a private riding school which must have been present in the private villas of the time, according to Pliny the Younger; in the Acts of the Martyrs, a Hippodromus Palatii is mentioned concerning Saint Sebastian, which must certainly have been this.

On the eastern side was a large semi-circular exedra on three levels, decorated with sculptures and fountains, commanding views of the garden below. A belvedere sat atop its concrete dome.

Around the perimeter ran a two-story portico upheld by slender columns veneered in expensive coloured marble. The lower level feature a sheltered promenade adorned with an elaborate stuccoed roof vault.

The stadium was the last section of the palace to be built; proceeding the completion of the first two parts (completed: 92 AD). The stadium's construction replaced older buildings dating from the Roman Republic to Nero.

Brick stamps show that Hadrian reinforced the structure of the porticos. In the Severan era the exedra was reduced to a quarter circle externally when the adjacent Severan Baths were built. The small oval enclosure in the southern end dates to the time of Theodoric (early 6th c.) when it was perhaps used as a private amphitheatre (certainly not as a training ground for gladiators, as this type of show was abolished since the time of Honorius).

The complex was discovered and excavated in the 18th century which was soon followed by looting which irreparably compromised the state of the building.

Other sources

Fred S. Kleiner. A History of Roman Art. Wadsworth Publishing. 1st Edition. 2007. Chapter 13 Page 187.

Filippo Coarelli, Rome and surroundings, an archaeological guide, University of California Press, London, 2007