CANOPUS

The Canopus consists of a terraced garden (ca. 160 m) with a canal (119 x 18 m) along its main axis. Around the canal ran a colonnade, which was curved on the north side, single on the western side, and double on the eastern side. In the middle of the western side stood four "Caryatids" and two Sileni in place of columns. These allude to Athens: the former to the Porch of the Maidens on the south side of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis; the latter to the Hadrianic silenoi decorating the stage of the Theater of Dionysus. Statues on the rounded northern side included two Amazons (types: Sciarra and Mattei), a Hermes, and a Warrior (identified by some scholars as Theseus; see P. Pensabene, "Arredo statuario del Canopo," Lazio e Sabina [2011] 21n24). The Amazons are copies of statues in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (B.S. Ridgway, "A Story of Five Amazons," AJA 78 [1974] 1-17). Heads with portraits of a youthful Hadrian and a Julio-Claudian male (perhaps Julius Caesar) have also been found here, as were statues of a crocodile and personifications of the Nile and Tiber. On a platform in the water near both ends of the canal were erected statue groups featuring Scylla. It is unclear what, if any, program the sculpture represents (cf. P. Pensabene 2011: 30). At any rate, the Canopus was an open-air museum providing a feast for the eyes of banqueters dining in the Serapaeum. The Canopus dates to Phase II (125-133 CE).