Editing Exedra (section)

==Rise==
The exedra achieved particular popularity in [[ancient Roman architecture]] during the [[Roman Empire]]. In the 1st century AD, [[Nero]]'s architects incorporated exedrae throughout the planning of his [[Domus Aurea]], enriching the volumes of the party rooms, a part of what made Nero's palace so breathtakingly pretentious to traditional Romans, for no one had ever seen domes and exedrae in a dwelling before.

An exedra was normally a public feature: when rhetoricians and philosophers disputed in a Roman [[gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]] it was in an exedra opening into the [[peristyle]] that they gathered. A [[basilica]] featured a large exedra at the far end from its entrance, where the magistrates sat, usually raised up several steps, in hearing cases. This was called a ''tribuna'' in Latin, and [[tribune (architecture)|tribune]] is used for an area of raised floor backing onto a wall, often in an exedra.