TEMPLE OF ISIS

TEMPIO DI ISIDE
Via di S. Stefano del Cacco 26

Maybe built at the behest of the members of the second triumvirate in the year 43 BC

It was known as Iseum Campensis and it was the most important sanctuary of the Egyptian religion in Rome

The site of the temple corresponds to the present church of S. Stefano del Cacco (St. Stephen of Cacco)
It was hardly tolerated by Augustus and Tiberius, and it was rebuilt by Caligula, Domitian and Alexander Severus
Grand entrance from the north in the current Via del Seminario and two side entrances closer to the temple. The east side entrance was the so-called ARCO DI CAMIGLIANO (Arch of Camigliano) the left pilaster of which is still visible

“The historian Dio Cassius says that in 53 BC the Senate ordered the demolition of all the private temples, within the walls, not only dedicated to Isis, but also to Serapis, other male deity imported from Egyptian, corresponding to the Hellenized form of the god Osiris, brother and husband of Isis. The construction of the Iseum Campensis took place significantly in 43 BC, ten years after the senatorial ban, if another testimony of Dio Cassius is properly interpreted, and the patrons are the protagonists of the second triumvirate, who most likely continued the building program begun by Julius Caesar in the Campus Martius. After a few years after its construction, the Temple of Isis was, on and off, at the center of repressions and temporary suspensions, from Agrippa in 21 BC, to the more incisive one of Tiberius, who even had the priests executed. After the reintroduction of the cult by Caligula, and the complete reconstruction of Domitian after the fire of 80 AD, the Iseum Campensis and the worship of the goddess Isis continued until the end of the imperial period” (Paolo Vigliarolo - ArcheoCommons)

The structure was decorated with five small obelisks of about 6 m (20 feet) in height:

1) Piazza della Rotonda from Heliopolis by Ramses II (1297/1213 BC) about 1250 BC

2) War Memorial of Dogali from Heliopolis by Ramses II about 1250 BC

3) Piazza della Minerva by Apries about 500 BC

4) Florence, Boboli Gardens from Heliopolis by Ramses II about 1250 BC

5) Urbino, Palazzo Ducale by Apries by 500 BC

There was also a higher one, perhaps the Agonal Obelisk later moved to the Circus of Maxentius and later on again to Piazza Navona, with the name of Domitian in hieroglyphics
Filippo Coarelli and Jean-Claude Grenier deem it however coming originally from the TEMPLUM GENTIS FLAVIAE that was erected in Via Vittorio Emanuele Orlando where now the Hall Octagonal or Hall of Minerva is, the former Planetarium

Maybe it was another obelisk whose pieces of pink granite were used for the thresholds of the Collegio Romano, Palazzo Giustiniani and S. Andrea della Valle
Maybe it corresponds to the square in the center of Via Pie' di Marmo on the Forma Urbis marble map

MANY STATUES were found in the area of the temple, including:
The two statues of men representing rivers lying down: the “Nile” in the Vatican Museums and the “Tiber” in the Louvre
Those that make up the Egyptian Collection of the Capitoline Museums found here in 1883
The “Pie' di Marmo” placed in the street with the same name, Via del Pie’ di Marmo
The “Madama Lucretia” in Piazza Venezia
The “Dog-headed God Thoth” now the Gregorian Egyptian Museum in the Vatican and mistakenly considered a macaque monkey

St. STEPHEN OF THE CACCO

S. STEFANO DEL CACCO
Via di S. Stefano del Cacco 26

Built in the early ninth century at the time of Paschal I (817/824) on the site of the TEMPLE OF ISIS (Iseum Campense)

The name of the church comes from the statue of the dog-headed god Thoth found here, now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican and mistaken for a macacco or a macaque monkey

Also known as S. Stefano in Pinea (St. Stephen in Pinea) from the pigna (pine cone) symbol of the district represented on top of the bell tower

 Restorations at the beginning of the twelfth century at the time of Paschal II (1099/1118)

Romanesque BELL TOWER with a bell dating back to 1480 and PORCH added about 1160 at the behest of the brothers Nicola and Quinzio Papareschi, nephews of Pope Innocent II Papareschi (1130/1143)

Restorations in the years 1607/17 and 1638/43 by Antonio Canziani who maybe designed​​the FRONT and Matteo Riva for the Sylvestrine monks to whom the church had been assigned in 1563 by Pope Pius IV Medici (1559/65)

PORTAL in travertine maybe by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)

Other restorations in 1725 and 1865

FLOOR
1865 with marble pieces from the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, destroyed by fire in 1823

VAULT
Ornamental reliefs and fresco “Trinity and St. Sylvester in glory” 1857 by an unknown nineteenth-century artist

TO THE RIGHT OF THE ENTRANCE
“Tomb of the architect Ludovico Rusconi Sassi” d. 1736

NAVE
Twelve ancient columns reused here maybe from the Temple of Isis
Organ dating back to 1642

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE GUARDIAN ANGEL
Above the altar “Guardian Angel” eighteenth-century copy from the original by Pietro da Cortona exhibited in the National Gallery of Ancient Art at the Barberini Palace

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. JOSEPH
Above the altar “Death of St. Joseph” by an unknown eighteenth-century artist

ON THE RIGHT WALL AFTER THE 2nd CHAPEL
Fresco “Pietà” 1519 by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47) heavily restored also with the addition of the landscape that surrounds it

It is the first extant solo work by Perin del Vaga and it was executed soon after his collaboration with Raphael in the Vatican Loggia

“Here Perino, apart from the obvious inspiration from the group by Michelangelo in St. Peter's, is showing the narrative and dramatic power of Raphael and Giulio Romano not in the sense of emotional expression but mainly in grace and ornament” (Antonio Vannugli)

AT THE END OF THE RIGHT AISLE
Altar with devotional picture “Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted” in wood dressed with silk dress, maybe dating to the seventeenth century. Tradition has it that this image wept on July 9, 1796 shortly before the invasion of the French soldiers of Napoleon

APSE
Originally there were mosaics dating from the time of Paschal I (817/824), destroyed in 1607 and replaced by the current decoration
At the center “Martyrdom of St. Stephen” about 1585 by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
On the sides “St. Charles Borromeo” and “St. Frances of Rome” about 1610 by Cristoforo Casolani (1587/1629), a pupil of Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio
“Golden stuccos” 1608 by Rocco Solari
“Choir in walnut wood” 1668 by the Cecconali brothers

AT THE END OF THE LEFT AISLE
“Wooden Crucifix” beginning of the seventeenth century and ruined fresco “Saints” maybe by Cristoforo Casolani (1587/1629)

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “St. Matthew” and frescoes on spandrels and dome by Cesare Mariani (1826/1901)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “St. Benedict delivers the rule to St. Sylvester” maybe by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)
On the left “Miraculous healing by St. Sylvester” and on the right “St. Sylvester receives communion from the Virgin Mary” by Cesare Mariani
Frescoes on the lunettes and on the side walls by Cesare Mariani

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar modern “Holy Face”
Stuccos by G.B. Ferrabosco
On the left “Sts. Charles Borromeo and Filippo Neri” and on the right “Sts. Stephen and Paul the First Hermit” 1639 two late works by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)

SACRISTY
Altar piece “St. Nicholas” 1695 by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731) formerly in the third chapel on the left
Oval panel “St. Aurea taken to martyrdom” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)
Preparatory sketch “Birth of the Virgin Mary” maybe by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

MONASTERY
General Curia (headquarters) of the Sylvestrine Fathers
“St. Stephen” by Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)
“Adoration of the Magi” by the painter from Antwerp Jan Miel (1599/1663)