Near the northeastern corner of the site stand the foundations of a large Roman villa traditionally associated with the Emperor Nero, who visited Olympia in AD 67 to compete in the Olympic Games. The building replaced an earlier Greek structure and was constructed to a Roman floor plan with large rooms around a peristyle courtyard — architecture quite different in feel from the Greek buildings around it.
The identification with Nero is traditional rather than conclusively proven, but the timing and scale fit: the emperor required accommodation befitting his status when he came to compete (and to win, by decree). The remains are low to the ground and require some imagination to read, but they illustrate how Roman power physically embedded itself into even the most sacred Greek spaces.