he
temple. The masterpieces of the dromos were upset, and otherwise
damaged, the faces of the _kynokephaloi_ and the noses and paws of the
sphinxes were knocked off, and statues of Pharaohs, gods, priests,
dignitaries, and Pastophoroi were hurled from their pedestals, and
broken to pieces. When this wholesale destruction took place, the
pavement of the temple was still clear of the rubbish and loose soil.
The sphinx of Amasis, found June 14, was lying on its left side on the
bare pavement; the two apes had fallen on their backs. No attempt,
however, was made to overthrow the obelisks, at least the one which I
discovered. When the monolith fell, in the eighth or ninth century,
the floor of the Iseum was already covered with a bed of rubbish five
feet thick. To this fact we owe the wonderful preservation of the
obelisk, the soft, muddy condition of the soil having eased the weight
of the fall.

Students have wondered at the existence, in our time, of such a mine
of antiquities in this quarter of the Campus Martius, where it appears
as if, in spite of the feverish search for ancient marbles, this spot
had escaped the attention of the excavators of the past four or five
centuries. It did not escape their attention. The whole area of the
Iseum, save a few recesses, has been explored since the Middle Ages,
but the search was made to secure marble, which could be burnt into
lime, or turned into new shapes. Of what use would porphyry, or
granite, or basalt be for such purposes? These materials are useless
for the lime-kiln, and too hard to be worked anew, and accordingly
they were left alone. In the excavations of 1883 I found the best
evidence that such was the case. The obelisk is of granite; its
pedestal of white marble. The obelisk escaped destruction, but the
pedestal was split, and made ready for the lime-kiln.

THE TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE. The discoveries made in 1878 in the Piazza di
Pietra, on the site of the Temple of Neptune, rank next in importance
to those just described. In repairing a drain which runs through the
Via de' Bergamaschi to the Piazza di Pietra, the foundations of an
early mediaeval church, dedicated to S. Stephen (Santo Stefano del
Trullo) were unearthed, together with historical inscriptions, pieces
of columns of _giallo antico_, and other architectural fragments. On a
closer examination of the discoveries, I was able to ascertain that
the whole church had been built with spoils from the triumphal arc