and the broad octagon opening in the roof. Instead, the vault is composed of two horizontal zones, the lower of which consists of eight panels that rise from the straight sides of the octagon and turn inward as they narrow in width. The upper portion of the room creates the second horizontal zone, and it is here that the straight lines of the lower half disappear and meld into smooth, circular spaces creating the dome effect. The narrowing of the inward extensions of the piers, the fact that the compression factor is impressively utilized throughout the structure, and the use of concrete combine to provide the octagonal chamber with extreme stability and a rigid structure. The structural aspect of the octagonal chamber is not the only important element in the design of these rooms; the architectural planning and the use of space is also original and exceptional. Each of the radial rooms end in a niche-like form; the northern most chamber even contained a water-show cascade, and the rooms large openings into the central vault connect them smoothly together creating a large, main volume of space. Also, the dome itself is visually appealing as it rests on thin verticals giving the viewer an optical allusion of weightlessness. All of these elements added together on a sunny spring day, when light flows into each of the rooms, provides a breathtaking view and gives the present day viewer a glimpse into the past of what the octagonal chamber of the palace might have looked like during Neros time. The actual palace of the Domus Aurea may have been the largest and most impressive structure on the two hundred acres that made up Neros villa, but it was certainly not the only luxurious feature that was constructed. Neros massive plot of land in the middle of Rome extended southward to the temple of Claudius on the Caelian hill, eastward to the present via Merulana, where the gardens of Maecenas began, westward to the Palatine and the Veli...
