The "Cacco"
Photogallery
The "Cacco"
This statue represents a figure with the head of a dog, an animal sacred to the god Thoth. It was discovered during the Medieval age in Rome, in the area of the Serapeum of Campus Martius. The name of the Church of Santo Stefano del “Cacco”, a Roman term meaning “macaque”, refers precisely to this monument.
The sculpture is in fragments and would already have been damaged in ancient times, as shown by the presence of a hole that would have enabled a bolt to be inserted. Only the lower part of the statue remains, which shows the animal seated with its front limbs resting on the knees of its back legs. The tail lies along the plinth, which is also damaged.
The work was produced by two Greek artists active in Rome, Phidias and Ammonios, according to the Greek inscription on the left side of the base. The Latin inscription on the right instead consists of the authorisation to place the statue in the temple, dated 159 A.D.