Nero's Rotating Banquet Hall Unveiled in Rome
In a style worthy of the name of the man who “fiddled while Rome burned,” archaeologists believe they have now found the legendary banquet hall of emperor Nero.
According to the Associated Press, "Nero's extravagant banquet hall [was] a circular space that rotated day and night to imitate the Earth's movement and impress his guests."
The opulence of Nero’s dining hall symbolizes the other side of what the poet Juvenal identified as the “bread and circuses” mentality of the Roman emperors: government handouts to the populace accompanied the self-deification of the emperors and a lifestyle which matched their bloated egos.
There is no word, as of this writing, whether White House architects will be traveling to Rome to study the site as a model for improvements to the president’s residence. -- The New American
The Remorse of Nero by John William Waterhouse, 1878.
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