Do you think that the wisdom of age can alter our perspective on historical events and those involved in them?

Or perhaps ageing makes us less tolerant of the males of history who wreaked havoc in their quest for absolute power.

Take Julius Caesar, a mighty Roman emperor who apparently did great things. But at what expense to the average citizen? I found this pod about the Ides of March fascinating.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-ancients/id1520403988?i=1000512876776

A few days ago in Rome, we visited where Caesar met his end, in a room behind the then-Roman Senate building. Now called Largo Di Torre Argentino, this historical area was built over through the centuries, then restored and is now accessible to modern citizens of Rome and beyond.

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Speaking of old bastards, the Domus Aurea is the former site of Emperor Nero’s astonishingly opulent place and gardens, which stretched to the Palatine Hill, and included the future site of the Colosseum (which was fashioned into an enormous lake).

Today’s surviving section of the Domus Aurea (which translates as Golden House) is thought to be where Nero’s OTT banquets were held. The entire precinct was designed by two architects bRought over from Egypt, and was very much in the Egyptian style, of separate buildings for different requirements.

Domus Aurea is vast and architecturally overwhelming in its enormous vaulted ceilings, endless rooms and corridors, and incredible decorations, done by a guy called Fabullus, who would only paint in a toga.

Excess, excess, excess was the creators’ brief.

Lots to say about this place but I’ll let pictures do the talking.

If you have questions we might be able to answer, drop me a comment.