A large bronze statue of the Roman Emperor
Nero, commissioned by Nero himself, and erected in the vestibule of the
Domus Aurea, on the summit of the
Velia. A Greek named
Zenodorus built the colossus, which stood nearly 120 feet high. The Romans called it Colossus Neronis.
After Nero's death the head was regularly knocked off and alternately replaced by the heads of other emperors, until
Vespasian had the statue altered as an embodiment of a sun god. In 128 A.D.
Hadrian had the colossus moved to the Amphitheatrum Flavium, or
Flavian Amphitheater, in order to make room for a temple to
Venus Felix. Henceforth the Amphitheater would be known as the
Colosseum. The emperor
Commodus, with
a rigorous vanity rivaling that of Nero, converted the colossus into a statue of himself as
Hercules. Upon his death it was restored to its previous personification of a
sun god.
The square tiled travertine pedestal built by Hadrian that stands in front of the Colosseum is presently the only remnant of the Colossus of Nero.