Where did the early emperors live? Palace? City villa?

[Scipio.]

Hey, does anyone know where the early emperors (Augustus and Tiberius) lived in the city of Rome? Did they actually have palaces, or just villas?

 

Thanks in advance,

Scipio.

[Klingan]

The lived at the Palantine. It's a hill right next to the forum. You can find pictures from there in my photo album here.

 

Augustus house wasn't really a palace, but they soon developed into that after his death.

Edited August 31, 2007 by Klingan

[Scipio.]

Sweet, thanks! Um...do you think by like AD 23 it was a palace? Or just something of an ancient-world mansion?

[Klingan]

I think the Palatine hill always was more or less a palace/villa area in Rome. Augustus was just spartan in his taste (In comparison to later emperors). His home was surly not any common house. But considering that 23 AD was during Tiberius rule, I would say that it most certainly was a large and impressive complex.

[longshotgene]

From what I gathered, the place they stayed in was like the American White House. Each emperor did what he wanted to the place. Augustus had pretty simple tastes. In fact, in his later years he let his appearance go. On the other hand, Nero went nutts with materialism. Trajan levelled a hill to make his market. The emperors were all different for the most part. Some humble, and some not-so humble.

[caldrail]

Tiberius lived on the island of Capri for much of his reign. Nero originally lived in the Domus Transitoria (a palace) until it was fire damaged in AD64, then had the Domus Aurea built along with surrounding parkland in the center of Rome. Vespasian/Titus had the colosseum built on the site of a lake in the grounds. Hadrian built a country retreat. There's probably other examples I'm not aware of.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

Here comes Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita XII Caesarum , Libri II Divus Augustus , Ch. LXXII-LXXIII:

 

"Habitavit primo iuxta Romanum Forum supra Scalas anularias, in domo quae Calvi oratoris fuerat; postea in Palatio, sed nihilo minus aedibus modicis Hortensianis, et neque laxitate neque cultu conspicuis, ut in quibus porticus breves essent Albanarum columnarum et sine marmore ullo aut insigni pavimento conclavia. Ac per annos amplius quadraginta eodem cubiculo hieme et aestate mansit, quamvis parum salubrem valitudini suae urbem hieme experiretur assidueque in urbe hiemaret. Si quando quid secreto aut sine interpellatione agere proposuisset, erat illi locus in edito singularis, quem Syracusas et technyphion vocabat; huc transibat aut in alicuius libertorum suburbanum; aeger autem in domo Maecenatis cubabat. Ex secessibus praecipue frequentavit maritima insulasque Campaniae aut proxima urbi oppida, Lanuvium, Praeneste, Tibur, ubi etiam in porticibus Herculis templi persaepe ius dixit. Ampla et operosa praetoria gravabatur. Et neptis quidem suae Iuliae, profuse ab ea exstructa, etiam diruit ad solum, sua vero quamvis modica non tam statuarum tabularumque pictarum ornatu quam xystis et nemoribus excoluit rebusque vetustate ac raritate notabilibus, qualia sunt Capreis immanium beluarum ferarumque membra praegrandia, quae dicuntur gigantum ossa, et arma heroum.

Instrumenti eius et supellectilis parsimonia apparet etiam nunc residuis lectis atque mensis, quorum pleraque vix privatae elegantiae sint."

 

"He lived at first near the Forum Romanum, above the Stairs of the Ringmakers, in a house which had belonged to the orator Calvus; afterwards, on the Palatine, but in the no less modest dwelling of Hortensius, which was remarkable neither for size nor elegance, having but short colonnades with columns of Alban stone, and rooms without any marble decorations or handsome pavements. For more than forty years too he used the same bedroom in winter and summer; although he found the city unfavourable to his health in the winter, yet continued to winter there. If ever he planned to do anything in private or without interruption, he had a retired place at the top of the house, which he called "Syracuse" and "technyphion." In this he used to take refuge, or else in the villa of one of his freedmen in the suburbs; but whenever he was not well, he slept at Maecenas's house. For retirement he went most frequently to places by the sea and the islands of Campania, or to the towns near Rome, such as Lanuvium, Praeneste or Tibur, where he very often held court in the colonnades of the Temple of Hercules. He disliked large and sumptuous country palaces, actually razing to the ground one which his granddaughter Julia built on a lavish scale. His own villas, which were modest enough, he decorated not so much with handsome statues and pictures as with terraces, groves, and objects noteworthy for their antiquity and rarity; for example, at Capreae the monstrous bones of huge sea monsters and wild beasts, called the "bones of the giants," and the weapons of the heroes.

The simplicity of his furniture and household goods may be seen from couches and tables still in existence, many of which are scarcely fine enough for a private citizen."

[Maladict]

During the Julio-Claudian dynasty the urban horti, large estates owned by wealthy aristocrats on the edge of the city, were nearly all confiscated by the emperors, particularly Claudius and Nero.

Many emperors preferred these 'urban retreats' to the Palatine, notably Vespasian. The emperors also held many extra-urban villas where they resided whenever they wished.

 

Some examples (early empire only):

Bay of Naples Various

Centumcellae Trajan

Lorium Antoninus Pius , Marcus Aurelius

Alsium Marcus Aurelius

Nemi Caesar , Constantine

Nola Augustus

ad Gallinas' (via Flaminia) Augustus

Lanuvium Augustus , unknown 2nd cent.

Praeneste Augustus

Tibur Augustus , Claudius , Hadrian , unknown 2nd cent.

Capri Augustus , Tiberius

Alba Augustus , Tiberius , Gaius , Nero , Domitian

Antium Augustus , Tiberius , Gaius , Nero , Hadrian

Anxur (Tarracina) unknown 1st cent.

Circeii unknown 1st cent.

Neapolis Marcus Aurelius

Laurentum unknown 2nd cent.

Tusculum unknown 2nd cent.

Puteoli unknown 2nd cent.

Baiae Augustus , Gaius , Claudius , Hadrian , Marcus Aurelius , Severus Alexander

Capua Antoninus Pius , Severus Alexander , Caracalla

Campania Vespasian , Severus Alexander

[Scipio.]

"He lived at first near the Forum Romanum, above the Stairs of the Ringmakers, in a house which had belonged to the orator Calvus; afterwards, on the Palatine, but in the no less modest dwelling of Hortensius, which was remarkable neither for size nor elegance, having but short colonnades with columns of Alban stone, and rooms without any marble decorations or handsome pavements. For more than forty years too he used the same bedroom in winter and summer; although he found the city unfavourable to his health in the winter, yet continued to winter there. If ever he planned to do anything in private or without interruption, he had a retired place at the top of the house, which he called "Syracuse" and "technyphion." In this he used to take refuge, or else in the villa of one of his freedmen in the suburbs; but whenever he was not well, he slept at Maecenas's house. For retirement he went most frequently to places by the sea and the islands of Campania, or to the towns near Rome, such as Lanuvium, Praeneste or Tibur, where he very often held court in the colonnades of the Temple of Hercules. He disliked large and sumptuous country palaces, actually razing to the ground one which his granddaughter Julia built on a lavish scale. His own villas, which were modest enough, he decorated not so much with handsome statues and pictures as with terraces, groves, and objects noteworthy for their antiquity and rarity; for example, at Capreae the monstrous bones of huge sea monsters and wild beasts, called the "bones of the giants," and the weapons of the heroes.

The simplicity of his furniture and household goods may be seen from couches and tables still in existence, many of which are scarcely fine enough for a private citizen."

 

Wow, thank you so much for this post! And thank you to everyone who helpfully contributed to and solved my problem!

[Maty]

In a way you could say that Augustus lived in the original palace, in that the word 'palace' indirectly derives from 'Palatine'. Originally, the Palatine on the side facing the Sacra Via, was the best address in Rome. Over time the hill became more and more taken over by religious and imperial buildings, until only the emperors lived there. But even when these were not at home, a large number of bureaucrats (nicknamed 'palatini') were there.

 

Incidentally, to correct an earlier posting, Trajan did not actually level a hill (the Quirinal, and a bit of the Esquiline, which are parts of the same ridge), he had the side of the hill dug away and terraced for his market.