Paestum Poseidonia, as it was baptized at the end of the seventh century. a.C. (600 a.C. circa) Greeks, houses countless artifacts and decorative artifacts, many of which can be seen at the National Archaeological Museum. The walls of the ancient Greek colony, a polygonal shape with four large doors, wraps, almost completely the city, where there were a hole, whole urbanized neighborhoods, Religious buildings and three temples. All of the Doric order come down to us are unique examples of Hellenic: the Temple of Neptune, dated to 460 a.C., whose ownership is still debated (Apollo, Hera Zeus), the Temple of Athena (500 a.C.), also known as the Temple of Ceres and the Basilica (540 a.c.), urban temple almost certainly dedicated to Hera. Portici, column, long corridors and areas in the open air are the reception that gives the Paestum archaeological site to all its visitors who are easily bewitched by the beauty still intact some parts of these majestic works.

History, art and culture

Small fraction of Capaccio, Paestum is one of the largest Greek colony finds. It founded in the sixth century by the Achaeans as a maritime commercial center, He passed into the hands of Lucani, then the Romans. Nell’887 d.C. It was destroyed by the Saracens and from there began its decline. The walls of the ancient Greek colony, a polygonal shape with four large doors, wraps almost completely Paestum, where there were a hole, whole urbanized neighborhoods, edifici religiosi e tre templi. The Temple of Hera, the oldest, Doric with eighteen columns on the long sides and nine on the short, had a cell preceded by a portico, and divided into two aisles by a row of columns. It dates back to 510 a.C. the Temple of Ceres, actually dedicated to Athena, consisting of thirteen columns on the long sides and six on the short, with large porch in front of the cell. This temple was, afterwards, restored by the Romans and used, in Byzantine times, as a church. The Temple of Neptune, the largest of the three, It goes back to 450 a.C. and it is one of the most beautiful examples of architecture Doric temple. Dedicated actually Hera, He continues to maintain the old but erroneous name; The temple has sixteen columns on the long sides and six on the short, with a cell enclosed between two porches and divided into three aisles by two rows of columns. In front of the remains of two altars they remained where they were used for sacrifices.

The National Archaeological Museum

The museum, built in the fifties, It contains thirty metopes that decorated the Temple of Hera and which constitute the most important group of sculptures of the entire Magna Grecia. Put in different rooms are the metopes of thesauros, depicting the myth of Heracles, and those depicting dancing girls in ionic clothes; vi si trovano poi elementi architettonici del tempio di Cerere, a funeral attire and some tomb paintings of the fourth century with the deceased scenes on horseback weapons, funeral games and, for women's graves, of domestic activities they are also preserved the frescoes in the Tomb of the Diver of the late fifth century BC, five plates painted with great expressiveness depicting a young diver life-size and a funeral feast: la sua fondamentale importanza deriva dall’essere l’unica testimonianza della pittura greca classica giunta intatta fino a noi.