Macellum of Pozzuoli (Temple of Serapis):

Macellum of Pozzuoli (Temple of Serapis)

Just steps from the port, the Macellum of Pozzuoli stands as one of the most fascinating Roman monuments.
Historically known as the Temple of Serapis, it is actually the public market of Puteoli, brought to light in the 18th century by order of Charles of Bourbon.
Today it represents the scientific and visual symbol of Phlegraean bradyseism, thanks to its famous perforated columns that tell the story of millennia of ground fluctuations.

Architecture and Function: the Market of Puteoli

Despite the name “Temple of Serapis” — due to the discovery of a statue of the Egyptian god, now at the MANN in Naples —
the complex was the macellum, the public market of wealthy Roman Pozzuoli.

• Dimensions: 58 x 75 m, with a large central courtyard paved in fine marble.
• Central tholos: circular structure with octagonal fountain and colonnades in African pink marble.
• Cult hall: large apsidal room with cipollino marble columns, seat of the imperial cult and the protective gods of the market.
• Shops and services: decorated tabernae and monumental latrines that were long mistaken for thermal baths.

Bradyseism in Action

The most famous element of the Macellum are the columns perforated by lithodomes (marine mollusks), which bear witness to the cycles of subsidence and uplift of the ground.
This “geological clock” has made the site an international reference point for geology and volcanology studies, attracting scientists such as Charles Lyell and Charles Babbage.