HADRIAN'S VILLA - THE EGYPTIAN SCULPTURES OF THE CANOPUS
In the 18th century, a large area of Hadrian's Villa, including the Canopus and Roccabruna, became the property of the Jesuits; they made excavations there, which, like all antiquarian excavations of that time, are poorely undocumented.
Numerous Egyptian sculptures in black or gray marble were discovered, which, according to Piranesi, were located «in the corridors flanking the Canopus valley».
Pope Benedict XIV had them restored and donated them to the Capitoline Museums in Rome. They were later moved to the Vatican Museums and placed in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio, where they are today. They are displayed in a now dated arrangement proposed by the French scholar Grenier in 1989.
The sculptures have been restored and polished; some are unworked on the back, meaning they must have been placed in niches, and they are tilted forward to be viewed from below.
A beautiful two-faced herm depicts the goddess Isis on one side and the Apis bull on the other. The sculptor used the white veining of the marble to create the animal's horns, which, when viewed from Isis's side, resemble a crescent moon, one of the goddess's symbols.
The herm was placed on a large black marble lotus-shaped support.
Behind the herm of Isis are three statues of priestesses of the goddess; one of them holds a tablet engraved with a small, stylized vase with two lotus flowers.
In the side niches of the reconstruction, which reproduces the central part of the Canopus, are other sculptures, including a priest of Isis holding a baton and another holding a small vase containing sacred water.
The discovery of the Egyptian-themed sculptures is considered a confirmation that the Canopus of Hadrian's Villa can be identified as a reference to the Egyptian city of Canopus cited in the Historia Augusta.