Experts have virtually reconstructed the first house built by the infamous Roman emperor Nero, which has been put on display at a major exhibition in Rome.
The remains of the magnificent estate on the Palatine hill, where the emperor lived in the first years of his reign, will open to the public at the end of the summer, according to Italian authorities.
Stretching for about 1.2 miles along key archaeological sites of ancient Rome, the exhibition, which runs until Sept. 18, aims to show the many faces of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (37 - 68 AD), reports Discovery News.
Notorious for being a cruel megalomaniac tyrant who persecuted early Christians, had his stepbrother, two of his wives and even his own mother murdered, Rome's fifth emperor, Nero, has never been held dear in Roman history.
In fact, he has been accused of nearly destroying Rome, itself, by allegedly setting the Great Fire in 64 AD that devastated the city.
The palace, named Domus Transitoria, was an architectural masterpiece, which stretched from the Palatine, where Nero first lived with his grand-uncle and adoptive father Claudius and his mother Agrippina, to the gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline.
Built around 60 AD, it was ruined in the Great Fire four years later and was replaced by the Domus Aurea, one of the most opulent palatial complexes ever constructed.
"Based on the archaeological evidence, we have produced the first ever 3D virtual reconstruction of the complex," said Rossella Rea, director of the Colosseum and one of the exhibition's curators.
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