Lecture 11 - Notorious Nero and His Amazing Architectural Legacy |
Professor Kleiner features the architecture of Augustus' successors, the Julio-Claudian emperors, whose dynasty lasted half a century (A.D. 14-68). She first presents Tiberius' magnificent Villa Jovis on the Island of Capri and an underground basilica in Rome used by members of a secret Neo-Pythagorean cult. She then turns to the eccentric architecture of Claudius, a return to masonry building techniques and a unique combination of finished and unfinished, or rusticated, elements. Finally, Professor Kleiner highlights the luxurious architecture of the infamous Nero, especially his Domus Aurea or Golden House and its octagonal room, one of the most important rooms in the history of Roman architecture. The construction of the Domus Aurea accelerates the shift in Roman building practice toward a dematerialized architecture that fully utilizes recent innovations in concrete technology and emphasizes interior space over solid form.
Claridge, Amanda. Rome, pp. 14-16 (historical background), 135-136 (Domus Transitoria), 268, 290-292 (Domus Aurea), 361-362 (Underground Basilica)
Ward-Perkins, John B. Roman Imperial Architecture, pp. 45-61
The lectures in HSAR 252 are illustrated with over 1,500 images, many
from Professor Kleiner's personal collection, along with others from
a variety of sources, especially Wikimedia Commons, Google Earth, and
Yale University Press. Some plans and views have been redrawn for
this project. For specific acknowledgments, see:
Image Credits - Lecture 11
[PDF]
Yale University 2009. Some rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated on this page or on the Open Yale Courses website, all content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0)