Iseum Metellinum

Large, terraced sanctuary of Isis, N of the modern Via Labicana on the S slopes of the *Oppian. It is attested on the basis of architectural, epigraphical and sculptural finds, and may be identified both with the sanctuary of Isis et Serapis of Augustan Regio III, and with the Republican Iseum Metellinum. In 1653 the remains of an Egyptian temple were seen near the Church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, hence the traditional placement of this temple near the church (Richardson; Häuber 1990, 50-51; Coarelli 57; Malaise 171-72), but in the 17th c. SS. Pietro e Marcellino was the only landmark in this area. There is strong evidence that this temple, which was later destroyed (Lanciani 1897), stood on a large terrace on the S slopes of the Oppian. It has been shown that a long substructure with buttresses and vaults of Republican date, discovered N of Via Pasquale Villari, was part of an Iseum (cf. *Iseum Metellinum: Substructure). Epigraphic and sculptural finds over a wide area suggest that this Iseum also included the triportico which stood on a large terrace to the W (s.v. *Iseum Metellinum: Porticus-Piscina). The architecture here is consistent with an Iseum, and this was perhaps where the main temple of Isis originally stood (de Vos 1997, 113). It is very likely that the Porticus-Piscina and the substructure in Via Pasquale Villari formed one large complex, c. 260 m in length (de Vos 1993, 87).Sometime after the Augustan era, this extensive Iseum gave its name to the region, Regio III: Isis et Serapis (de Vos 1997, 99; ead. 1994, 130-31; cf. CIL VI 2234, 32462), and to the local inhabitants, who were known in late antiquity as ISIACI (CIL VI 31893b; de Vos 1997, 99; ead. 1994, 131). The Via Labicana Iseum stood near the border between Regio III and Regio V. The exact dividing line is not known. It has been suggested that the area N of Iseum substructure may have belonged to Isis Patricia, listed by the Regionary Catalogues in Regio V next to the sanctuary of *Minerva Medica (Häuber 1998, 101 with n.64). Thus the Via Labicana Iseum may have been a double sanctuary (de Vos 1997, 99). However, Isis Patricia is probably best placed considerably further N, for the epithet Patricia suggests a strong connection with the *Vicus Patricius on the *Cispian (Coarelli 57). The Via Labicana Iseum is thus best understood as a single, large sanctuary known as Isis et Serapis of Regio III, and more specifically as the Iseum Metellinum.The house of the emperor Tetricus (A.D. 270-83) stood ‘on the Caelian, between two groves, facing the Iseum Metellinum’ (in monte Caelio inter duos lucos contra Iseum Metellinum: SHA, Trig. Tyr. 25.4). This strongly suggests that the Iseum Metellinum, otherwise unattested, stood on the S slopes of the Oppian, facing the Caelian across the valley. The location of the ‘two groves’ is not known, but there were groves just inside the *Porta Querquetulana (cf. de Vos 1997, 113 with n.257). The sanctuary of Isis et Serapis on the Via Labicana may therefore be identified with the Iseum Metellinum (de Vos 1997, 102; ead. 1993, 85; Papi; Palmer; Richardson). The Iseum Metellinum has also been placed on the Caelian: either near the Church of S. Maria in Domnica (in Navicella), the findspot of an Imperial inscription addressed to Isis Regina (CIL VI 354; Malaise 167-71; contra, Palmer); or at the *Caput Africae, based on an unnecessary emendation of inter duos lucos (SHA, Trig. Tyr. 25.4) to inter duos ludos, a reference to two gladiatorial schools, the ludus Gallicus and ludus Matutinus (Coarelli 56; accepted by Le Glay). But given the force of contra, ‘opposite, over against’, it is impossible that the Iseum Metellinum and Domus Tetricorum both stood on the Caelian.Coarelli argues persuasively that the Iseum Metellinum was a Republican foundation, for the Caecilii Metelli died out in the early-Imperial period; he suggests that it was founded by Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius (cos. 80 B.C.), between 72 and 64 B.C. (Coarelli 54-57, accepted by Le Glay; Ensoli 309; de Vos 1997, 102-3). Although Coarelli himself places the Iseum Metellinum on the Caelian, his arguments may legitimately be used to date the foundation of the Via Labicana Iseum to the late Republic. Indeed, the masonry of the substructure in Via Villari is consistent with a date in the 70s or 60s B.C. (de Vos 1993, 85). De Vos further suggests interventions by later generations of the family, and a Flavian restoration after the triumph of A.D. 71 (de Vos 1997, 107, 113). This picture is complicated by the various persecutions of the cult of Isis attested in 58, 53, 48, 28, 21 B.C. and in A.D. 19. However, it has been argued that the cult of Isis Capitolina (s.v. *Arx) was the primary target of these persecutions; as a private cult, the Iseum Metellinum was perhaps largely exempted from these measures and may even have been restored in connection with a decree of 28 B.C. (Ensoli 306-7, 311; cf. de Vos 1997, 121-22). However, the archaeological record confirms that this Iseum escaped destruction in the late 1st c. B.C., for large parts of the complex can be dated to the Augustan period. Häuber at first suggested that the Porticus-Piscina was post-Augustan, though she did at least concede that her dating was hypothetical (Häuber 1990, 100, map 4). Recently she has also argued, implausibly, that the Porticus-Piscina was the *Porticus Liviae, hence Augustan (Häuber 1998, 109-11). The Via Labicana Iseum is not shown on the Berlin Model, yet large parts of the complex are of (pre-)Augustan date. Our map is based on de Vos 1997, fig. 207; cf. Häuber 1990, map 1.