In the center of Rome, near the Vatican, archaeologists have found the ruins of an ancient theater dating back to the first century AD, which Emperor Nero is believed to have been a lover of.
The newspaper “Corriere della sera” indicated that the director of the Rome Police, Daniela Porro, declared that this discovery was of “exceptional importance,” reports Al-Rai daily.
It is noteworthy that information about the existence of this theater ‘Theatrum Neronis’ is mentioned in the ancient texts of Pliny the Elder, Suetonius and Tacitus. From them, the researchers obtained basic information and evidence indicating the location where the “Temple of Art” could be located, which was described as “the pinnacle of splendor.”
Many have compared it to the “Golden House” of Nero, a huge palace built by the emperor on the site of the city that was destroyed in the “Great Fire of Rome” in 64 AD. Later the Colosseum and other public buildings were constructed in this area.
Since excavations began in 2020, archaeologists have found columns of white and colored marble, gold-inlaid elements, sculptures and other artifacts at a depth of 5 meters in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Rovere. In addition, scholars have been able to recover from the ruins the outlines of the theater itself, including the stage on which the emperor stood before his guests. They also found several medieval artifacts about which little is known.
At the site, archaeologists found well-preserved glass jugs and cups, as well as ceramic vases and objects used in religious rituals.
Scientists believe that this area, in the early Middle Ages, was teeming with pilgrims who would come to Rome to visit the tomb of St. Peter. But in the fifteenth century, a palace was built in it, around which a residential neighborhood later grew, partly destroyed during the reign of Mussolini, linking the main cathedral of the Catholic world with the Corniche of the Tiber through a wide street.
