The temple of Isis is a Roman temple of ancient Agrigentum, present-day Agrigento. It has been identified as an Iseum thanks to some finds made on the spot and would be the only Iseum discovered so far in Sicily.
What to see
It stands in the area of the northern terrace of the upper agora, in the San Nicola district, in the Hellenistic-Roman quarter north of the San Nicola museum complex. According to another source it is a small shrine, probably dedicated to the goddess Isis, of which only the podium survives, inside a colonnaded triple portico that enclosed the forum, the public square, and of which only remains of columns are left.
The upper agora was brought to light by the excavations of the archaeologist Pietro Griffo, from the nineteen-fifties, in the centre of the Valley of the Temples, in the area west of the medieval church of San Nicola, now the seat of the regional archaeological museum named after Griffo. It includes the Ekklesiasterion with the so-called Oratory of Phalaris, the Bouleuterion and the theatre, sought for centuries by scholars and finally found in 2016. West of these public buildings are the remains of an extensive Hellenistic-Roman quarter of about fifteen thousand square metres, with twenty-seven domus with painted walls and mosaic floors.
Visiting
The temple is in the area of the Hellenistic-Roman quarter, north of the San Nicola museum complex, in the Valley of the Temples. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check them, for example on the Park's official website, parcovalledeitempli.it.
Our editors' tip
Of the marble togate statues that adorned the forum's triple portico only four have been found, headless: two are in the regional archaeological museum and two, discovered in 2005, are displayed along the Sacred Way, near the temple of Concordia.
