Fodor's Expert Review Domus Flavia
Domitian used this area of the imperial palace complex for official functions and ceremonies. It included a basilica where the emperor could hold judiciary hearings. There was also a large audience hall, a peristyle (a columned courtyard), and the imperial triclinium (dining room)—some of its mosaic floors and stone banquettes are still in place. According to Suetonius, Domitian had the walls and courtyards of this and the adjoining Domus Augustana covered with the shiniest marble to act as mirrors to alert him to any knife pointed at his back. They failed in their purpose: he died in a palace plot, engineered, some say, by his wife Domitia.