"built by Elagabalus, on the slopes of the Palatine, for the worship
of the Syro-Phœnician sun-god, which was represented by a black
conical stone, set with gems. Elagabalus broke into the Temple of
Vesta, intending to remove the Palladium to his Temple of the Sun, but
the virgins, by a pious fraud, defeated his object, on discovering
which he broke into their sanctuary, and carried off one of the
virgins to add to his list of wives" (Lampridius).
[Illustration: ARCH OF TITUS, WITH THE META SUDANS, AND BASILICÆ OF
THE FORUM OF CUPID.]
The temple was built for the worship of the Sun. Around it was the
Lavacrum, or gratuitous baths, A.D. 218-222. The temple was converted
in A.D. 800 into the Church of S. Maria, by Pope Leo III. The remains
of the altar can be seen at the east end; at the west end is the
baptistery, in the form of a Greek cross, with an apse at the top
containing the raised platform with the depressed basin of the font in
which the person about to be baptized stood, whilst the minister
occupied the platform above it and poured the water over his head.
_On our left is_