Statue of the Nile

In front of you is one of the oldest residents of Naples. It is a Roman statue from the middle of the 2nd century representing the Nile, the sacred river of Egypt. It was set up by the Alexandrians who lived in this district, which was therefore known as the «Nile quarter»: Naples was a port open to the whole Mediterranean.

1The body of Naples

The statue was lost and resurfaced in the 12th century during building work, but without its head. Seeing the children clambering over it, Neapolitans thought it was a woman nursing her young: an image of the city itself caring for its people. From then on it was called «'o cuorpo 'e Napule», the body of Naples, and the square still bears that name.

In 1657 the sculptor Bartolomeo Mori added the head of a bearded old man, an arm and the horn of plenty, and the «body of Naples» became a river god once more.

2A head that came back from Austria

The story has a recent epilogue. After the Second World War, someone stole the head of the sphinx at the Nile's feet, along with two of the children. In 2013, some sixty years later, the Carabinieri's heritage protection unit found it in Austria. It returned to its place with the restoration unveiled in November 2014.

3What to look for

• The sphinx's head, recovered in 2013.
• The children climbing over the statue, the ones that made people think of a mother.
• The Latin plaque on the base, written in the 18th century.