Nero’s Rotating Dining Room [video]

Nero’s Rotating Dining Room [video](news.cnrs.fr)

94 points by alceufc 9 years ago | 19 comments

dom96 9 years ago |

That's a really nice overview of this archaeological find. Inspiring to think about what it would have been like to dine with Nero on this structure. Are there any other such structures? Perhaps even modern ones?

PodcastListnr 9 years ago | |

Well, one famous story about dining with Nero is that he would round up local Christians, dip them in oil, crucify them, have the crosses planted around his dinner table, and light them on fire so that the burning Christians would serve as torches for his banquets.

Let's see...he became emperor when he was 17. He had his own mother executed. He banished a wife for not bearing him children, and then when his wife after her died, he had her body stuffed. He spent all of his time faffing about with his lute and his chariot-racing, but of course being emperor, he would have all the great chariot racers fake losing to him and all the greatest artists say how much better he was than them, and then he go around talking about how he was the greatest of all time.

He grossly mismanaged the empire, and when large portions of Rome were burned during a great fire, he took the opportunity to annex huge chunks of downtown real estate to build an enormous, gaudy palace (featured in the linked video). The palace itself was such an embarassment to the administration that successive political leaders of Rome tore it down, sold off the valuable bits, and used the land for public benefit (the Colosseum stands over part of land annexed for this palace).

So, I think dining with Nero in this structure would be a bit like dining in Saddam Hussein's palace. It would be shocking to piss in the gold toilets and stuff but you wouldn't really have the capacity to take it all in because you'd be in abject horror of being burned alive for failing to praise the beauty of the emperor's singing voice.

Some people believe that all that shit in The Book of Revelations about 'the antichrist', '666' etc was code about Nero. Before Nero, the Romans pretty much regarded the Christians as weird hippies, mostly broke foreigners who spoke Latin with heavy accents if at all, but hey, if they wanna talk about love all day and live in communes, who cares. Nero, however, needed someone to blame for all the troubles (mostly caused by him), and so he looked to the Christians: poor, foreign, weird...perfect people to scapegoat. So he's the one who really got Roman persecution of the Christians rolling.

dragandj 9 years ago | | |

Do you have any links to historical documents about burning Christians by Nero? From what I've read, a large part of such stories sprang up mostly (or solely) from the early and medieval christian sources, which were dominant or even only sources at the time when christian church had the leading role in what was left of Western Roman Empire.

So, they needed a villain for the martyrdom of their saints, and Nero was very convenient to paint as one.

tomcam 9 years ago | | |

So that was one of the best answers in the history of HN. Than you. I too have imagined Nero as the Sadam Hussein of his time. Or maybe one of the last 3 Kims.

TheOtherHobbes 9 years ago | | |

I think it's interesting that this occasional architectural trope was invented by a psychotic emperor.

Never mind a meal - it's more fun to imagine the initial design meeting with the engineers:

"An outdoor dining terrace that rotates, oh shining light of the world? Yes, I think we can do that. Oh - and gold toilets too? Yes. Of course."

jacquesm 9 years ago | | |

Reminds me of Ceausescu.

tantalor 9 years ago | |

a revolving restaurant situated atop the Space Needle... revolves on a track and wheel system... at a rate of one revolution every 47 minutes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyCity

djsumdog 9 years ago | | |

There's one in Cincinnati too .. well across the river actually in Kentucky.

tpeo 9 years ago | |

Well, revolving restaurants [0] were somewhat fashionable in the 1960s. Still, I don't think they quite compare with something made in the actual 60s (early christian era). The tech behind Nero's revolving diner was probably pretty bold at the time. But it doesn't sound so cool for someone who has motion sickness.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_restaurant

ethagknight 9 years ago | | |

"The Sundial" on top of the Westin in downtown Atlanta has a revolving rooftop restaurant. Generally, these restaurants turn very slowly, like 1 full revolution in 30 minutes, which is not quick enough to evoke motion sickness, at least not compared to how much the 70 story, slender tower sways on a windy day.

http://www.sundialrestaurant.com

clivestaples 9 years ago | |

When I was a kid, my dad offered a bid to work on the construction of this house in San Diego:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3270786/California-m...

saalaa 9 years ago | | |

Here's the next level: http://www.domespace.com/en/home (revolving house).

superfreek 9 years ago | |

the CN Tower has a revolving restaurant

Animats 9 years ago |

The Hyatt in downtown SF has a rotating restaurant, but it broke down in 2007 and was never reopened. Here it is.[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJoyN2P-M_M

frik 9 years ago |