Paestum, Italy: Ancient Greek Temples
While many travel all the way to Greece to see the awesome Greek ruins, well, just south of the Amalfi Coast stands a dramatic reminder of the rich history of this part of Italy.
Where is Paestum?
Nestled along the Campania Coast among the Italian farmlands with the famous Buffalo who give the creamy delightful mozzarella di Buffalo that gracefully crowns the best pizzas on the planet, I kid you not, you’ll find an ancient archaeological treasure containing the best preserved Greek ruins in the world laid out exactly as it was over 500 years Before Christ!
What to see at Paestum…
Walking through this ancient city we find the marketplace, the gymnasium with its Grand public and private pools, the Curia, which was where the local Town Council met, the thermal baths, guys this was pure luxury back. Then we also see the amphitheater and the houses still containing the Mosaic floor tiles, if you close your eyes you’d visualize this Grand City as it was.
Magna Grecia
500 BC southern Italy was called Magna Greacia or Greater Greece, basically the Greek colony that once covered much of southern Italy. This name was given by the Romans to the coastal areas of southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily.
These regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers and the spectacular wonders of that Western frontier of Greece can be well appreciated at Paestum.
Once called Poseidonia in honor of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, this ancient Greek city is famous for its amazingly well-preserved temples.
How it all started…
Paestum was founded by Greeks in the 6th Century BC, the Romans conquered it in the 3rd Century BC, but, the final conquerors of Paestum, were malaria-carrying mosquitoes who kept this site wonderfully deserted for nearly a thousand years!
Today Paestum offers visitors a vivid to-scale glimpse of the Grandeur and sophistication of the area’s past life. The site includes the remains of three impressive ancient Greek temples in the Doric order dating from about 550 to 450 BC. Let me simply elaborate on the Doric style so everything makes perfect sense.
The Greek architectural orders…
In ancient Greek and ancient Roman civilization, the architectural orders are the styles of classical architecture most readily recognizable by the type of column employed.
The three orders of architecture are Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, all originated in Greece.
The best place to view all these three columns is at the Colosseum in Rome.
The Colosseum built in the 1st Century A.D and has four stories and has all three orders; the ground floor is Doric order, the next level is Ionic and the third and fourth are Corinthian order. Paestum or the archaeological Park of Paestum has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1998.
It’s in the Campania region of Italy and is an ancient Greek later Roman settlement with the best preserved Greek Doric temples worldwide.
The greek temple in the northern part of Paestum is the Temple of Athena and the two Greek temples in the southern part of Paestum are both temples of Hera.
The 12 Greek gods…
Now let’s recap a bit on some Greek history so everything makes perfect sense. The Temple of Hera was dedicated to Hera. Hera was the goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hera was one of the 12 Olympians and the sister and wife of Zeus. After mentioning these I bet you’ve found some bearings, right, okay, please keep up with me.
In ancient Greek mythology the 12 Olympians are the major deities or gods of the greek pantheon commonly considered to be; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aries, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes and Hestia or Dionysus.
Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god of the underworlds but far from Olympus and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the 12 Olympians and these 12 gods were called Olympians because according to tradition they resided on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece and Hera ruled over Mount Olympus as Queen of the gods!
Okay that’s it, end of history class if any of you would like to add something to class feel free to comment below, please keep it simple ✌.
The 3 Temples at Paestum…
Okay so, where were we? Yeah, So all three temples are oriented East-West with the front facing the Rising Sun. The oldest Temple is the southernmost one, the Temple of Hera I (erroneously called Basilica) built around 550 BC.
The 2nd oldest of the three temples is the temple of Athena (also erroneously called Temple of Ceres) built around 500 BC.
On the highest point of Paestum is the 3rd Oldest, the Temple of Hera II (also erroneously called the Temple of Neptune) built around 450 BC. Hera being the sister and wife of the Greek God Zeus; not sure how the words sister and wife sit together in the same sentence but hey, I’ve heard worse things in my lifetime.
Another historical place with Greek temples in Italy that I visited is SELINUNTE in the Mediterranean’s largest island of Sicily. Check this video where I give this Temple’s history and how it ended up here.
I do travel videos all over Italy and since I come from the Eternal City of Rome I go pretty deep in my city and give you my travel fans the best guides to visiting Rome.
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Ciao, Ciao and see you in the next exciting destination.
