In 2009, a team of French and Italian archaeologists discovered a nearly 2,000-year-old revolving platform during the archaeological study of the Golden Palace.
The Golden Palace (Latin: Domus Aurea) is a complex palace of ancient Rome, built by order of Nero and originally discovered during the Renaissance (c. from the end of the 14th century to the beginning of the 17th century). Located in a vast area from Palatine Hill to Esquilino Hill, the Golden Palace has a vast area with about 300 rooms covering most of the Roman city, the design and decoration of this palace is extremely luxurious, using a large number of materials such as gold leaf, precious stones and marble, and the walls are covered with exquisite frescoes and sculptures. According to ancient historians, the palace also contained a huge artificial lake, gardens, baths, and other entertainment facilities, which were the most extravagant symbols of the time.
Nero, whose full name was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, was the fifth emperor of the Roman Empire, and his reign lasted from 54 to 68 AD. During his reign, Nero valued culture and the arts, advocated diplomacy and performance, and at the same time enjoyed poetry, ** and theatrical performances, and was also considered an artist. However, his reign was notorious for being ** and extravagant, with cruelty to political opponents, his mother and his wife, and other family members.
In 64 AD, much of Rome was destroyed by fire, and many suspected that Nero had deliberately set fire to it in order to rebuild the city and build a lavish palace, but Nero himself put the blame on the apostles and launched the first large-scale ** against the congregants. In 68 AD, in the face of the rebellion of the Senate and the army, Nero committed suicide and ended his life, and the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end.
After Nero's death, the Roman Empire experienced a brief period of turmoil, during which four emperors were changed, known as the "Year of the Four Emperors".
According to the ancient historian Suetonius, the palace was extremely luxurious, covered with gold leaf, the walls were covered with precious works of art, the interior of the palace was decorated with semi-precious stones (such as turquoise, amethyst, etc.) and ivory stucco ceilings, the walls were decorated with frescoes, and each room created a different theme.
The antechamber is spacious, with a statue as high as 36The 6-metre-tall statue of the emperor is connected by a 1,609-metre-long three-tiered colonnade. The palace also has a large pond the size of a lake and is surrounded by a variety of rural landscapes, including farmland, vineyards, pastures and forests, as well as a large number of wild and domestic animals.
The rest of the palace is entirely decorated with gold, precious stones and mother-of-pearl, and the main ballroom is circular in shape and made of ivory, rotating day and night. As it rotates, the fragrance spraying system emits a floral scent that provides a pleasant experience for guests. In addition, there are baths with seawater and sulphur water in the palace. When the Golden Palace was built and put into use, Nero said he finally had a home that met the standards of human habitation.
Modern historians have doubted its accuracy due to exaggeration of the description. However, the latest archaeological discoveries, Suetonius's description is somewhat accurate.
During excavations on an artificial platform in the northeastern corner of the Palatine Hill in Rome, archaeologists discovered a circular tower 12 meters high, supported by eight pairs of arches, with a large column four meters in diameter in the center. At the top of the arch, there is a row of spherical holes filled with clay, similar to the ball grooves on ships, which archaeologists believe were used to install metal balls to support the rotating floor. At the base of the tower, they also found other mechanisms inside the walls. Calcite deposits on the surrounding stones suggest that the constant movement of the floor may have been driven by water currents.
Chief archaeologist Françoise Vierdieu said that these may be the remains of the legendary revolving restaurant, an engineering marvel of the time, and that no previous discovery of ancient Roman architecture can compare with this one. In an article published in the Harretz newspaper, archaeologist Maria Antonielta Tomei noted that despite Nero's bad reputation, the complexity of the revolving restaurant's architecture and machinery underscores his love of science, technology, art and culture.