07/06/2026
Before it was the Colosseum, this land belonged to one man: Nero. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64AD, Nero seized the site and built the Domus Aurea — the Golden House — a sprawling private palace complete with an artificial lake, gilded halls, and a 30-metre bronze statue of himself. It was, by every ancient account, an obscene monument to his own ego, built on land taken from the people of Rome.
When Nero fell and Vespasian rose to power, he made a calculated and symbolic choice. He drained Nero's private lake and built the Colosseum in its place — a public monument, open to every citizen of Rome, standing on the exact ground where an emperor's palace once excluded them. Where Nero had taken, Vespasian gave back.