Fresco of Apollo Citharoedus from the area of the House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill, from the Scalae Caci, Rome, Italy.

Fresco of Apollo Citharoedus from the area of the House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill, Palatine Museum (Museo Palatino), Rome, Italy. Painted plaster, Roman artwork from the Augustan period. From the Scalae Caci on the Palatine Hill. Antiquarium of the Palatine, Inv. 379982.

The Scalae Caci were a stairway of ancient Rome. They connectedn the Palatine Hill with the Forum Boario, before the hill became the imperial residence. They were the stairs that were climbed, according to Virgil, by Aeneas with King Evander. They derive their name from the giant Cacus, foe of Hercules and consisted of alternating steps and ramps located on the hillside by the side of the Circus Maximus
The stairs are only scant remains, placed at the site of the huts of the Palatine on a layer Republican close to the remains of the theater of Cassius Longinus of 154 BC. It is said that in their vicinity there was the residence of Romulus.

An Apollo Citharoedus, or Apollo Citharede, is a statue or other image of Apollo with a cithara (lyre).