Best Colosseum Wallpapers

The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran.

By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited.

It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain.

He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes.