Archaeologists excavating the Domus Aurea, the enormous palace built by the Roman emperor Nero in the 60s CE, discovered an unusually large mass of ancient Egyptian blue pigment weighing more than five pounds.
The pigment was found in the remains of workshops used by the artisans who decorated Nero’s palace. Nearby were basins for preparing pigments, an amphora containing yellow ochre, and containers holding several red pigments. Unlike naturally occurring ochres, Egyptian blue was a deliberately manufactured material, produced by firing silica, limestone and copper-bearing minerals at high temperatures.
Although traces of Egyptian blue are frequently detected on ancient artworks, archaeologists usually encounter it as tiny remnants, powders or small pieces. The exceptionally large ingot discovered in Nero’s palace suggests that blue pigment was being stored and used there on a substantial scale. Researchers are now investigating whether it was manufactured in Italy or imported from Egypt.
Egyptian blue was a paint pigment and not the textile dye of Techeiles. Nevertheless, the discovery provides a striking glimpse into the place of blue in the Roman world of the first century CE—the same general historical period in which Techeiles was still in use.
