Rome’s first shrine to Apollo, the Olympian deity of sun and light, was raised here in 433 BC. It was called Apollo Medicus meaning healer because the plague was ravaging the city. When Emperor Augustus built a new Apollo temple on Palatine Hill in 28 BC, this one suffered diminished importance. Yet it received a final makeover four years later by Roman general Gaius Sosius. In his honor, it was subsequently called the Temple of Apollo Sosianus. After archeologists excavated the site in 1928, these three Corinthian columns from the Augustan era were placed in their original position. The temple is next to the impressive ruins of Marcello Theater. Teatro Marcello dates back to 13 BC. The dome in the background is Santa Maria in Campitelli. The Catholic church was built in 1667.
