✅ In the eighteenth century the Canopus was excavated by the Jesuits and other private owners, finding a series of black marble sculptures of Egyptian subject.

✅ A two-faced herm is noteworthy, depicting the goddess Isis on one side and the bull Apis on the other. They used a white vein in the marble to make the animal's horns.

✅ Then there are other sculptures depicting characters from the procession of Isis including a priestess holding a tablet on which a small stylized vase with two lotus flowers is drawn.

✅ The sculptures were found in the corridors flanking the Canopus, according to reports from Piranesi. Pope Benedict XIV had them restored and donated them to the Capitoline Museums. Later they were moved to the Vatican, in the Egyptian Museum where they still are today.

✅ The discovery of those Egyptian sculptures confirms that the Canopus of Villa Adriana can be identified as a reproduction of the Canopus mentioned in the Historia Augusta.

‼️ The Mysteries of Isis in the Canopus.