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Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the Roman emperor Nero's fabled rotating dining room. The chamber, which was discovered in the remains of the 1st century Golden Palace on Rome's Palatine Hill, is thought to be the one described by the Roman historian Suetonius in Lives of the Caesars. He wrote: 'The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually night and day in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies.
'All the dining rooms had ceilings of fretted ivory, the panels of which could slide back and let a rain of flowers, or of perfume from hidden sprinklers, fall on his guests.' The rotating dining room had a diameter of more than 50ft and rested upon a 13ft-wide pillar and four spherical mechanisms that rotated the structure.
The mechanism was a feat of Roman engineering, and moved thanks to the spheres beneath the wooden floor of the room, kept in constant movement by water being forced against them. Experts believe the dining room could be up to 60m long, but have so far uncovered several supporting pillars, one 4m in diameter, as well as a perimeter wall.
Archaeologist Maria Antonietta Tomei told how it was the circular shape of the building and the stone spheres that led the team to believe they had found the rotating dining room. She said:'This discovery has no equal among ancient Roman architectural finds.'
The significance of the find was highlighted after the city's commissioner for archaeology, Roberto Cecchi, announced the availability of new funds to verify the 'hypothesis'. The find was made during excavation of the Domus Aurea or 'Golden House' on the Palatine Hill - one of Ancient Rome's fabled Seven Hills.
The Palatine Hill is the centremost of the Seven Hills and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. They were the traditional founders of Rome.
The palace was one of Nero's most extravagant projects and was more a sprawl of buildings over a landscaped 'countryside' as opposed to a single structure. Just outside the entrance stood a 120ft high bronze statue of the emperor while inside the palace grounds was an amphitheatre, a bath complex, served by an 50-miles aqueduct long.
There were also gardens, waterfalls, zoos as well as hundreds of statues. Rooms within the palace were decorated with rare stones and mother of pearl. After the death of Nero, Vespasian reopened the property to the public.
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