TEMPLE OF CERES AND FAUSTINA,
the site of which is now occupied by the deserted Church of S. Urbano. The church was built of brick, and the vestibule is supported by marble Corinthian pillars. Piranesi saw the name of Faustina stamped on one of the bricks. The basin in the vestibule containing the holy water was found near here, and was an altar consecrated to Bacchus. The inscription says that it was made under the priesthood of Apronianus. The grove of ilex trees is termed the Sacred Grove of Bacchus. Tradition says S. Urban, in 222–30, had an oratory here under the present altar; and that Urban VIII. (1633) turned the oratory into a church;—the paintings and iron bars are of that date. Below the altar, entered from its side, is a cell, on the end wall of which is a fresco, of the eighth century, of the Virgin with Christ, and SS. John and Urban. The plan of the building is rectangular, and it is of the time of Antoninus Pius. At the foot of this hill is the valley of the Almo, or Caffarella, in which is the mossy entrance to a grotto, for a long time called the Grotto of Egeria, owing to the misapprehension of the site of the Porta Capena. It is now known to have been a nymphæum in the
VILLA OF HERODES ATTICUS.
This was proved from finding two pedestals, on which are two Greek inscriptions, copies of which have been placed on the top of the hill, close by the artificial ruin in the Villa Borghese; the originals are in the Louvre. This villa formed part of the dowry of Annia Regilla, wife of Atticus, as we learn from a column, No. 10 in the second Hall of Inscriptions in the Capitol Museum, which afterwards marked the eighth mile on one of the roads. After Regilla's death, he consecrated a statue to Regilla in the above temple. This is denoted by the above inscriptions, which speak of her as "the light of the house, the lady of the land." The wall at the back of the vaulted chamber was primarily intended to support the declivity of the hill, at the foot of which this elegant little building stands. The niches in the walls were for the reception of statues. One of these only, a recumbent figure of a river god, has been preserved, and is supposed to be a personification of the Almo, which flows past the spot.
Several channels for pipes, concealed in the wall, justify the supposition that the water poured forth in numerous streams. The romantic appearance of this spot has been greatly changed by the stream being turned into an aqueduct in the summer of 1873. A path leads to the tomb of Annia Regilla.
Visitors whose time is limited should continue along the Appian Way as far as the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, and then retrace their steps to this road, which leads into the Via Appia Nova ([page 328]), and so return to Rome.
Regaining the Via Appia, at a short distance on the right is the Via Sette Chiesa. Some distance down, near the Tor Marancia farm, are the
CATACOMBS OF DOMITILLA.
The tomb at the entrance dates from the reign of Trajan, and contained the remains of SS. Nereus and Achilleus; also of Petronilla, a member of the Aurelii family. The saints were the servants of Domitilla, a daughter or niece of Flavius Clemens, the first of imperial blood who suffered martyrdom. Domitilla opened this tomb, which afterwards became a general catacomb, for the remains of her servants. This is the most ancient Christian catacomb, as may be seen from the paintings and brickwork of the vestibule. The present entrance is modern; the catacomb is interesting for its paintings. In 1874 the