<p>Flight of narrow stairs on the SW slope of the Palatine hill, which ran between the Temple of *Magna Mater and the *Domus of Augustus (Solin. 1.17-18: <i>scalarum Caci</i>; Plutarch, <i>Rom</i>. 20.4 [corrupt text]; Diod. Sic. 4.21.2; contra, Castagnoli, who associates the name with an unattested stairway on the lower SW Palatine slope). While the lower end does not survive, the upper end of the ascent is well known archaeologically; several steps with a gentle grade (a step every 2 m: Pensabene 239) are preserved between the platform of the Temple of Magna Mater and a foundation wall belonging to Augustus’ residence (Romanelli 202-6; Richardson). In the early-Imperial period, a travertine gate was erected at the upper end of the staircase and several road pavers are <i>in situ</i> nearby (Romanelli 203, Carettoni 130 n.1); Castagnoli postulates that the gate was an Augustan solution to regulate traffic on the narrow thoroughfare. The date when the steps were first installed is unknown, as is the reason for the association with Cacus (Richardson). The steps intersect the *Clivus Victoriae as it emerged from below the platform of the Temple of Magna Mater; Pensabene identifies this stepped ramp as the final segment of this street (<i>LTUR</i> 239; Wiseman). The extent to which the Scalae Caci continued beyond this point to descend the hill is unknown; they may have continued to the *Forum Bovarium, though neither archaeological nor literary evidence exists to confirm this.</p>