Domus Flavia

Domus Flavia Review

This palace in the Palazzi Imperiali complex was used by Domitian for official functions and ceremonies. Also called Palazzo dei Flavi, it included a basilica where the emperor could hold judiciary hearings. There were also a large audience hall, a peristyle (a columned courtyard), and the imperial triclinium (dining room), the latter set in a sunken declivity overlooking the Circus Maximus—some of its mosaic floors and stone banquettes are still in place. Domitian had the walls and courtyards of this and the adjoining Domus Augustana covered with the shiniest marble, these to act as mirrors to alert him to any knife in the back. They failed in their purpose. He died in a palace plot, engineered, some say, by his wife Domitia.