"Domus Aurea' came directly out my ongoing fascination with Italian history and larger artistic interests. Firstly, it is about two very specific historical things. It is about the Domus Aurea, which from I understand is no longer accessible.
To quote Wikipedia, "It was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city" It was re-discovered "When a young Roman inadvertently fell through a cleft in the Esquiline hillside at the end of the 15th century" and "he found himself in a strange cave or grotto filled with painted figures". I was fascinated by this buried, decadent complex and the grotesque figures that covered its walls. My own musical endeavors feel fitting to the grotesque, buried opulence of the Domus Aurea.
My song is also about another historical incident - around the same time as the young Roman came upon the Domus Aurea, a marble tomb was uneart
