Photos of the Paestum Ancient Greek Temples & Historic Site

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Photos of the Paestum Ancient Greek Temples Ruins and Archaeological Site, Italy. Photos by Photographer Paul E Williams. (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Paestum Ancient Greek Temples and Archaeological Site

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Photos of the awesome Paestum Ancient Greek Temples & Archaeological site, Italy. Paestum lies on the southern Italian coast 85 km south of Naples.

Paestum Foundation

Founded around the end of the 7th century BC by colonists from the Greek city of Sybaris, Paestum was originally known as Poseidonia.

Archaeological evidence shows that the inhabitants spoke Greek and local Umbrian Oscan. This indicates that the two cultures were able to thrive alongside one another.

Roman Paestum

In 273 BC Greek Poseidonia came under Roman rule and became the city of Paestum. During the invasion of Italy by Hannibal the city remained faithful to Rome and was granted special favours such as the minting of its coinage.

Paestum prospered during the Roman imperial period, but started to go into decline between the 4th and 7th centuries. It was abandoned during the Middle Ages and its ruins only came to notice again in the 18th century, following the rediscovery of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The city of Paestum covers an area of approximately 120 hectares of which only the 25 hectares that contain the three main temples that have been excavated so far.

Paestum Temple of Hera

The Ancient Greek Doric Temple are the most impressive features of Paestum, built the first half of the 6th century BC. The temple of Hera was built around 550 BC by the Greek colonists and is the oldest surviving temple in Paestum.

Paestum Temple of Poseidon or Apollo

Next to the Temple of Hera is a Temple originally thought to have been dedicated to Poseidon-Neptune, built in about 460–450 BC Recent studies have now attributed the temple to Apollo in his capacity as doctor.

Standing on a 3 step base the temple has a doric colonnade of 6×14 columns. There are 3 rooms of which the central one is where the cult statue would have stood. The Temple has a central isle and 2 naives divided from each other by 2 rows of columns.

The original sacrificial altar was at the East end of the building but a newer altar closer to the eastern frontage from the first century BC. This shows that the temple cult was still very much alive in Roman Paestum.

The architect of the Temple of Poseidon was clearly inspired by the Parthenon in Athens.

Paestum Temple of Ceres

The third temple ar Pastum is the The Temple of Ceres (probably dedicated to Athena) and is dated to around 500 BC.