Adventures with Dino and Family – Part 7 – A Return to Paestum
After the new year, we set out to continue working on Dino’s local tour guide by exploring two different archeological sites near Dino’s home. The first being Paestum!
Paestum was a first time visit for Aubre and a return visit for me (Dino brought me here last year), though having already walked this ancient Greek archeological site in no way lessened my awe and wonder.
A Page in History
Paestum was founded around 600 BCE by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia. It was a major Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia until it was conquered by the Lucanians near the end of the fifth century BCE and renamed Paistos. Around 273 BCE it was conquered again by the Romans and given its current name, Pesto or Paestum.
The city fell into decline between 300-600 CE, and was completely abandoned in the middle ages. It became overgrown and nearly entirely forgotten until the middle of the 18th century following the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Enough about history. Let’s see what this place actually looks like!
We then came to this massive and majestic temple. It was built between 460-450 BCE and dedicated to- well, that’s interesting… According to various sources it was originally thought to be dedicated to Poseidon, then later thought to be a second temple of Hera, or a temple of Apollo, or Zeus, or maybe a combination of 2 or 3 of them. Wikipedia calls this the Temple of Hera II. The sign outside it calls it the Temple of Neptune, but amends that it’s likely a temple of Apollo.
With the sun down, and the winds rising quickly, we jastily began to make our way back to the exit. Suddenly, with the sky darkening, the lamps around the temple came to life casting the whole place in a brand new light!
We also stopped by the Paestum museum which has many fascinating finds in it, but I’m only going to show you the one thing I foreshadowed in my last post: The Tomb of the Diver. This tomb, found near Paestum, is the only tomb among the thousands of Greek tombs known from this time (roughly 700–400 BCE), to have been decorated with frescoes of human subjects.
We then battled the howling winds back to the station, and hopped a train to Salerno where we grabbed burger and cider from a local…Irish…pub?!
With that our first archeological trip was complete! We returned to Dino’s and slept soundly! I must say, there’s just something absolutely awe inspiring about walking among the ancient greek temples, and placing your hands on stone pillars that were carved by other humans’ hands 2,500 years ago.
With Paestum behind us, we looked forward to our next archeological expedition: Pompeii!
Tune in next Tuesday to join us in exploring the famed city of Pompeii!