# A hidden chamber "discovered" in Nero's pleasure palace buried under the colliseum



## trismegistus (Sep 14, 2020)

As an aside to _@KorbenDallas_ - - would it make sense to create a specific forum category specifically for dissecting mainstream media articles that dip their toes into Stolen History narratives?  Something like "Ripped from the Headlines" or "Dissecting the modern narrative".

​I'm going to paste the entirety of the article, the bold sections I have added for emphasis, which I will address at the end.  I specifically chose the article from the Daily Beast, as they add a bit more "color" to the article that I think is worth dissecting.

Beneath Rome’s Colosseum and surrounding area lie the ruins of one of the most spectacular and unusual palaces in history. This 2,000-year-old structure, often described as the Emperor Nero’s pleasure palace, lay hidden for hundreds of years. It was rediscovered in the 15th century when a young man fell through a hole in the ground and found himself in a richly decorated cave. Now, archaeologists excavating in the environs of the Colosseum have announcedthat they have discovered another hidden chamber, full of ancient artwork.

According to the statement, the chamber, *nicknamed the “sphinx room,”* was accidentally discovered as archaeologists were mounting scaffolding to complete renovations on a nearby room. Alfonsina Russo, director of the archaeological park of the Colosseum, noted in the press release that this chamber had “remained in darkness for almost 20 centuries” before it was unearthed. 

Nero’s palace was known as the Domus Aurea or “Golden House,” so named because of the use of gold leaf throughout, and the jewels that adorned the ceilings inside. The palace was a vast, sprawling, 300-room complex that was carefully and intricately landscaped and covered in white marble. *It was built over the remains of several aristocratic villas that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome*. The Roman biographer Suetonius tells us that the palace was “ruinously prodigal” and included pastures, flocks of animals, vineyards, trees, and *even an artificial lake*, all of which were in the center of the city. According to another historian, Tacitus, Nero oversaw the engineering of the palace himself. Remarkably, *the entire thing was constructed in only five years. *

There were numerous innovations in the design of the building, but perhaps the most extraordinary was a *mechanism, operated by slaves*, *that caused a domed ceiling to revolve and drop perfume and rose petals onto assembled party guests as they ate*. If it sounds like this would obscure the smell of the food then that was the point. As Mark Bradley has written in Smell and the Ancient Senses, aristocratic Romans like to keep their guests in suspense about the contents of their meals. It was considered especially low-brow to be drawn to the smell of a meal cooking in the kitchen. The device wasn’t a resounding success—according to one story, likely influenced by the propaganda of his opponents, one dinner guest was asphyxiated. 

The whole design was so ornate that Nero placed mosaics, which were previously found on floors, on the ceilings of the rooms. The technique would set a trend Emperor Nero's Golden Palace had a room with a rotating ceiling that dropped perfume and rose petals down on its inhabitants - Page 2 of 2, especially in the design of Christian churches in Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople. If you have ever been awed by the mosaics at San Apollinaire Nuovo in Ravenna, you have Nero’s decadent taste to thank. Which is somewhat ironic given Nero’s reputation as the Antichrist and persecutor of Christians. 

The discovery of these new murals, as Russo stated, can tell us more about the cultural atmosphere of Nero’s age. Much of the room is still filled with dirt and debris, *but in addition to the Sphinx, the room is also adorned with images of a centaur, Pan (the half-goat god), and a man armed with a sword being attacked by a panther*. *The murals are likely to be the work of an artist named Famulus, one of the few named and identifiable artists of antiquity*. According to Pliny the Elder, the author of the Natural History, Famulus only went to paint at the Domus Aurea for a few hours a day and wore a toga (the sign that he was a citizen) even when painting on scaffolding. Pliny bemoans the fact that because Famulus spent so much time at the Golden House, very little of his artwork was to be found elsewhere.
Even though Nero has a reputation for a great deal of bad behavior—he executed his mother a mere five years into his reign and is rumored (perhaps unfairly) to have kicked one wife, Poppaea, to death—there is one reputation he truly earned: the consummate party planner. In 64 CE, shortly before the Great Fire of Rome, Nero threw a city-wide celebration around a reservoir. The centerpiece of the affair was a large floating raft covered in purple cloth and filled with male prostitutes. At one point in the party Nero, dressed as a bride, “married” a freed slave. As Ray Laurence has written[/COLOR] Roman Passions, “The drama of this wedding was played out with a dowry, witnesses, a marriage bed and a torch-lit bridal procession.” It’s difficult to know if Nero intended the ceremony to be high performance art or merely shocking, but he certainly succeeded with the latter. The palace and its artwork became an inspiration for Michelangelo and Raphael and more notorious tourists like Casanova and the Marquis de Sade.
In 68 CE, after a revolt, Nero fled Rome and was declared a public enemy of the state. He committed suicide, unnecessarily, to avoid what he thought was a public execution at the hands of the Roman Senate (they were actually trying to work out a compromise). After his death the Golden House was stripped of its ivory, jewels and marble. *The emperor Vespasian built an amphitheater, now better known as the Colosseum, over the artificial lake. And the Emperor Trajan buried much of the palace underneath the construction of the Baths of Trajan.
Arguably the most remarkable thing about this sprawling, decadent, and wildly over the top palace was that it included neither bedrooms, nor bathrooms. There wasn’t even a kitchen.* In an interview in 1999 around the opening of the Domus Aurea to the public, the noted historian Andrew Wallace-Hadrill noted that the palace was purely for entertaining, saying,Nero's pleasure dome “Nero gave the best parties, ever.” If you don’t mind doing your business in a chamber pot, that is. 


> *It was built over the remains of several aristocratic villas that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome*


Hey look!  Another great fire!  After a basic search, the only "1st hand" account of the fire is from Tacitus in 116 AD, who according to mainstream historians should have been between 8-10 years old when the fire broke out (and wrote about the event more than 40 years after the fact), but I digress.


> ...Now started the most terrible and destructive fire which Rome had ever experienced. It began in the Circus, where it adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills. Breaking out in shops selling inflammable goods, and fanned by the wind, the conflagration instantly grew and swept the whole length of the Circus. There were no walled mansions or temples, or any other obstructions, which could arrest it. First, the fire swept violently over the level spaces. Then it climbed the hills - but returned to ravage the lower ground again. It outstripped every counter-measure. The ancient city's narrow winding streets and irregular blocks encouraged its progress...
> 
> ...By the sixth day enormous demolitions had confronted the raging flames with bare ground and open sky, and the fire was finally stamped out at the foot of the Esquiline Hill. But before panic had subsided, or hope revived, flames broke out again in the more open regions of the city. Here there were fewer casualties; but the destruction of temples and pleasure arcades was even worse. This new conflagration caused additional ill-feeling because it started on Tigellinus' estate in the Aemilian district. For people believed that Nero was ambitious to found a new city to be called after himself. *Of Rome's fourteen districts only four remained intact.* Three were leveled to the ground. The other seven were reduced to a few scorched and mangled ruins[/COLOR]


So based off this information, whatever existed in Rome prior to AD 64 was essentially destroyed beyond recognition.  Nero seems to get a lot of shit historically speaking, but I'll be damned if he didn't rebuild the hell out of Rome after this fire.


> *the entire thing was constructed in only five years. *


So he managed to not only rebuild Rome, but he also built this absolute unit of a palace replete with _artificial lake_ in less than five years?  Even the hoaxed history of "Gothic Revival" isn't that optimistic about their build times.


> *mechanism, operated by slaves*





> * that caused a domed ceiling to revolve and drop perfume and rose petals onto assembled party guests as they ate*


Excuse me, what the f**k?  

From ancient-origins.net: 



> Archaeologists were digging on an artificial terrace on the northeast corner of Rome's Palatine Hill when they found a round, 12-metre-high tower, with a large central pillar of four metres in diameter and 8 pairs of arches supporting two floors. Along the top of the upper arches, were lines of semi-spherical holes, filled with slippery clay – somewhat like the cavities that were used on large ships to contain primitive ball bearings, on which moveable platforms were mounted to transport heavy loads.
> 
> The lines of cavities in the structure are believed to have housed metal spheres that supported the revolving floor. At the bottom of the tower, archaeologists also found indications that a mechanism had been built into the wall.  Calcite deposits on the surrounding stones suggest that the floor's constant movement may have been powered by water channelled through a system of gears.


​I'm not going to argue that this never existed - - but where exactly is the proof that this amazing work of engineering genius was done purely to drop _perfume and rose petals_?  I suppose I could be wrong, but I have a very hard time believing that all that money and effort would go into the equivalent of an ancient essential oil mister.  Let's assume for a second that I am right - - what on earth could this structure been used for otherwise?  My money is on power generation.


> *but in addition to the Sphinx, the room is also adorned with images of a centaur, Pan (the half-goat god), and a man armed with a sword being attacked by a panther*


Fairly common pagan iconography there, save for the Sphinx.  Not sure where pagan iconography ties into the Roman ideas at the time, and whether or not this could have been considered heretical enough to hide in a "secret chamber" or was simply a normal chapel of sorts.


> *The murals are likely to be the work of an artist named Famulus, one of the few named and identifiable artists of antiquity*


Not sure how they are reaching this conclusion, perhaps someone who knows Italian can dig through the official statement released by the archaeologists (PDF download warning) to see if this is brought up.  Seems like a pretty low effort attempt at identifying the artist  - - "Well we really only have a few guys that we've even discovered do this kind of work, so rather than continue digging for the truth we'll just associate it with him and call it a day."


> *The emperor Vespasian built an amphitheater, now better known as the Colosseum, over the artificial lake. And the Emperor Trajan buried much of the palace underneath the construction of the Baths of Trajan. *


Cultural layers abound here.  The official line is that Nero was so hated that ensuing leaders did everything they could to eliminate his mark on Rome.  Sounds pretty familiar to me, in a "Winners write the history" kind of way.


> *Arguably the most remarkable thing about this sprawling, decadent, and wildly over the top palace was that it included neither bedrooms, nor bathrooms. There wasn’t even a kitchen*


Why is it that in most of these articles, there's always a reference to some of the more obscure Stolen History topics?

_Sanitations, soils, and sewers_
_1800s House interiors -- Where are the bathrooms?_
In conclusion I think it is fair to say that the people calling themselves "journalists" in the 21st century should probably avoid armchair research that amounts to pure speculation.  What aspect of this newly discovered room is "hidden"?  Was it an actual hidden room inside the palace, or was it just hidden from sight from modern day archaeologists?  Where exactly in the layout of this "palace" was this room?  Was it buried underneath known rooms?  If inside the article they are willing to admit this area has been built on top of time and time again - - what is the evidence that this room has anything to do with Nero?  

If there is anyone out there who listens to the podcast No Agenda, you may be familiar with a term they use called a _whipsaw_, of which this article is a perfect example of.  A _Whipsaw_ is when a news story makes a statement and their "evidence" really has nothing to do with the statement being put out there.  In this example  we have a story about a hidden room in Nero's palace, but the "evidence" to back up this article is a bunch of unrelated fluff and pseudohistorical speculation about the palace itself.  
I readily admit I am likely putting far too much of my own expectations on what likely amounts to a lazy ass blogger copying and pasting a statement from livescience and spending 8 minutes on the wiki for Nero's palace and calling it a day.  That said, there are plenty of meaty SH topics to dive into regarding this find and Nero's palace in general.  What are your thoughts?


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## Timeshifter (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: TimeshifterDate: 2019-06-01 08:44:21Reaction Score: 1


Completely agree, journalism it is not!

Here we have another broad sweep at a purposed period of history, keeps the mainstream narrative going, yet when you look at the information, for me at least it is clear that there is more to see here.

Massive fire
Underground chambers
The mixing of cultures

Mmmmm..


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## Archive (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: milhausDate: 2019-06-17 23:48:20Reaction Score: 1


I was reading KD's thread Ancient and early 20th century Robots

And I think it is apparent that the mechanical knowledge in the past was far more advanced than we would have guessed. That domed ceiling probably did exist but was not operated by slaves.

By reading The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria we might be able to get a better idea of what technology was available or known.
Here is a brief description:


> Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria (c. 10-70 AD) was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer who lived in the Roman province of Egypt; He is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Greek scientific tradition. Hero published a famous description of a simple steam engine called an aeolipile. Among his most famous inventions were a windwheel, a cuckoo clock and a vending machine. Much of Hero's original writings and designs have been lost, having been burned by anti-pagan Christians sometime in the late 4th to 5th century but what remains of his work gives a fascinating insight into how advanced ancient Greco-Roman civilization was technically.


If anyone with more knowledge on this would like to discuss or make a thread for it, please do.

So who was Nero? A scapegoat to easily explain away these oddities while things were destroyed by fire? Or even after?
Was he as insane as we were told? If so, how much of that is propaganda?
Was the artificial lake used to power the mechanism that moved the ceiling? If so, what would the actual use be and what was the actual purpose of the structure if it was not a pleasure palace?

I also never knew or forgot about the inspiration for Michelangelo.


Thanks for posting this because it is very fascinating.


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