Golden House (Nero’s residence, AD 64–⁠68)

After the fire Nero built a residence with a lake, a giant statue of the emperor and a dining hall that revolved day and night (Suetonius, Nero 31). The architects were Severus and Celer (Tacitus, Annals 15.42). After Nero’s death the lake was filled in for the building of the Colosseum. Suetonius quotes the emperor’s words that he was at last beginning to live like a human being. On the ruins of the residence Trajan later built baths. On the site of its lake the Flavians built an amphitheater (Martial, Book of Spectacles 2).