eyes to the central axis of symmetry in each group and provide a sort of visual climax while at the same time giving the axis its necessary finalization. It is obvious when studying the plan that Severus took time and care in the design of these four main spaces and not so much with the way that they connected and formed together. Between each of the four groups lies rooms and corridors so strangely and oddly constructed that Nero and his court probably never even set foot in them, instead keeping to the main, intentionally planned rooms that Severus created with the touch of royalty they were intended for. Perhaps the most fascinating and structurally remarkable feature of the Esquiline wing is the octagonal atrium or salon located between the east corridor and the south facade. This amazing structure, which is also the most important Neronian design known, has a center pavilion with the lower half octagonal in shape and the upper portion partly roofed by a vaulted dome. Each of the eight lower sides of the octagon are opened by way of large, square doorways, five of which lead into radial side rooms. The walls of the radial rooms were assumed to be covered with marbles while mosaic may have been applied to the central pavilion. The octagonal chamber and its dependencies was fairly cutoff from the rest of the palace and there is no connection whatsoever with the rooms to the north. Both the center octagonal chamber and the five radial rooms were superbly lit by sunlight cascading through several openings, the most distinct being the large oculus in the dome roof of the center chamber. The radial rooms were showered in sunlight that came through the openings of a clearstory system inserted between the exterior surface of the vault and the upper parts of each radial chamber. The central vault, though basically dome shaped, is not a true hemisphere due to its octagonal base, the difference in length between its radius and rise,...
