Major discovery in Rome, at Domus Aurea returns to light Hall of the Sphinx

Important archaeological discovery in Rome, where a Hall of the Sphinx at the Domus Aurea has come to light. The room has been so renamed because of the presence of a small winged sphinx on a pedestal depicted in the wall decorations, filled with elegant figures occupying panels edged in gold and red (among others, that of the I Pan, an armed figure wrestling with a panther, real or fictional aquatic animals). The whole is crisscrossed with plant motifs: slender garlands and tufts ending in leaflets and stems in green, yellow and red, festoons and perhaps fruit, compose a surreal landscape populated by birds portrayed in different poses. The decorations have been attributed to the so-called “Workshop A,” which was active between AD 65 and 68.

The discovery was made in the last months of 2018, and it emerged during the course of restorations at the Domus Aurea, the large villa that Nero had built after the fire of Rome in 64 AD, after the Domus Transitoria, his first palace on the Palatine (which, moreover, has been open to visitors since this year after ten years of work), was half-destroyed during the dramatic event. Restorations immediately involved the Hall of the Sphinx as well (which still remains partially buried, and at least no earth removal will take place soon so as not to create stability problems for the complex).

The pictorial decoration of the vault is clearly visible and discreetly preserved: on the white background of the vault one can see squares traced in red, bordered by lines of yellow ochre, with golden bands punctuated by a dense series of plant elements, and other curvilinear bands also gilded and “guilloche-like.”

“It is the fruit of our strategy aimed at protection and scientific research,” said Colosseum Archaeological Park Director Alfonsina Russo. “Remained in obscurity for almost twenty centuries, the Hall of the Sphinx tells us about the atmosphere of the years of Nero’s principate.”

Major discovery in Rome, at Domus Aurea returns to light Hall of the Sphinx

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