Paestum

24 Fascinating Facts about Paestum

1. Location: Paestum lies in southern Italy in the Campania region, about 90 kilometers south of Naples. The ancient city is situated near the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in the fertile plain of the Sele River and today belongs to the municipality of Capaccio Paestum.
2. Significance: Paestum is one of Italy’s most important archaeological sites and is best known worldwide for its three monumental Doric temples, which are among the best preserved structures of antiquity. They reflect the cultural flourishing of the Greek colonies in southern Italy and vividly illustrate the influence of Greek architecture beyond the Greek heartlands. Today, the archaeological park attracts around 500,000 visitors each year.
3. Earliest traces of settlement: The area of Paestum had already been inhabited long before the Greek city was founded. Archaeological finds show human activity dating back to the Stone Age, including flint tools as well as graves and pottery from the Copper Age attributed to the so called Gaudo culture. The fertile plain remained settled during the Bronze and Iron Ages, so the Greek settlers later encountered a landscape that was already in use.
4. Foundation history: Paestum was founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from the city of Sybaris, an important colony on the Ionian coast of southern Italy in present day Calabria. Why the Greeks chose this exact location is not known in every detail. They likely selected it because of the fertile coastal plain and its favorable position between the sea and the hinterland, which offered ideal conditions for agriculture and trade. The city reached its peak from the 6th to the early 5th century BC, when it developed into a prosperous center of trade, culture and religion.
5. Lucanian conquest: Towards the end of the 5th century BC, the Greek city of Poseidonia came under the control of the Lucanians after prolonged resistance. The Lucanians were an Italic people from the mountainous hinterland of southern Italy who significantly expanded their influence in the 5th and 4th centuries BC and conquered several Greek coastal cities. Many of the major Greek temples and public buildings remained intact. At the same time, political structures and aspects of the city’s culture began to change. This transformation is especially visible in the numerous painted tomb chambers from the Lucanian period, which today rank among the most important archaeological finds of Paestum.
6. Second Punic War: The Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage lasted from 218 to 201 BC and was a decisive struggle for control of the western Mediterranean. It is especially associated with the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who famously crossed the Alps into Italy with his army and war elephants. While many cities in southern Italy switched sides after his victory at Cannae, Paestum remained loyal to Rome and continued to support the Republic during this difficult period. As a reward for this loyalty, Paestum was allowed to mint its own bronze coins well into the early Roman Imperial period in the 1st century AD.
7. Decline: The city’s decline was gradual rather than sudden. Environmental changes slowly transformed the surrounding plain into a marshy landscape, allowing malaria to spread and making living conditions increasingly difficult. Over the course of the Middle Ages, the remaining inhabitants gradually abandoned the city and moved to higher ground in the surrounding region.
8. Rediscovery: After its decline, the ruins were never completely forgotten, but for a long time they lay in an isolated marshland and attracted little attention. It was only in the 18th century that they began to draw increasing interest from travelers, scholars and artists, who described, sketched and made the monumental temples known across Europe. Wealthy European Grand Tour travelers, along with famous visitors such as Goethe, ultimately helped establish Paestum as one of Italy’s most renowned ancient sites.
9. Modern road: A modern road still runs directly through the ruins of Paestum today. It was built during the Bourbon period between 1827 and 1829 as part of a new transport route between Naples and southern Italy. At the time, a direct route was prioritized and the preservation of ancient remains was not yet a major concern, so the road was simply laid across the site. As a result, part of the Roman amphitheater was built over, leaving only about half of the ancient arena visible today.
10. Military use: In September 1943, American troops landed on the beaches near Paestum as part of the Allied invasion of southern Italy. Heavy fighting took place in the plain around the ancient temples between German and Allied forces. The archaeological site was temporarily used for military purposes, including as a storage area and for medical vehicles.
11. Urban planning: From its foundation around 600 BC, Paestum was carefully planned and divided into religious, political and residential areas. A regular grid of straight streets structured the city and shaped its development for centuries. At the center stood the Ekklesiasterion, a circular assembly building from the 5th century BC where citizens gathered for political discussions. When Paestum became a Roman colony in 273 BC, this fundamental layout was preserved and expanded with Roman buildings such as houses and baths. This unique combination of Greek temples and Roman urban structures is what makes Paestum especially fascinating from an archaeological perspective today.
12. Temple of Hera I: The Temple of Hera I is the oldest surviving temple in Paestum and was built in the 6th century BC. Because of its unusual form, scholars in the 18th century initially believed it to be a building used for civic purposes. Today, it is firmly established that the temple was dedicated to the goddess Hera, as evidenced by inscriptions and votive offerings found in the sanctuary. With its especially massive columns and heavy, imposing appearance, the temple represents a very early form of Greek temple architecture and ranks among the most impressive buildings of its time in southern Italy.
13. Temple of Hera II: The Temple of Hera II was built around 460 BC and is the best preserved temple in Paestum. The façade features six columns, while fourteen line the long sides, giving the structure a monumental and harmonious appearance. Inside was the cella, the sacred main chamber of the temple, which likely housed the cult statue of the deity. Two altars stood in front of the temple, the larger dating to the original construction period and the smaller added during Roman times. Today, only limited remains of the cella walls survive, and the altars are mainly visible through their stone bases and foundation remains. In the 18th century, however, the temple was mistakenly thought to be dedicated to the sea god Neptune. More recent research suggests it was most likely dedicated either to Hera or to Apollo.
14. Temple of Athena: The Temple of Athena was built around 500 BC in the northern sanctuary of Paestum and is one of the oldest surviving temples in the city. Architecturally, it is particularly notable for combining Doric and Ionic elements. Doric forms are typically strong, simple and austere, while Ionic forms are more slender, elegant and often more richly decorated. The outer colonnade follows the Doric style, while Ionic columns once stood in the entrance area. Numerous votive offerings discovered at the site, including weapons and terracotta figures, indicate that the temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena.
15. Painted temples: The temples of Paestum were originally brightly painted. This is evidenced by surviving terracotta elements from roof decorations and other architectural details. Traces of color have often been better preserved on such terracotta fragments than on exposed stone surfaces, as fired clay binds pigments within its surface and many of these pieces were protected in the ground after the buildings collapsed.
16. Amphitheater: The amphitheater of Paestum was likely built in the late Roman Republic around the middle of the 1st century BC and expanded a few decades later. Gladiator contests and animal fights were held in the arena, among the most popular forms of public entertainment in the Roman world. Today, only part of the structure survives, as the eastern half was later built over by a road.
17. Forum: During the Roman period, the forum was established at the center of Paestum and served as the city’s political, economic and administrative hub. The rectangular square was surrounded by important public buildings, including the Comitium for public assemblies, the Curia as the seat of local government, and a large hall used for court proceedings and administrative functions. The area also included the Macellum, a market hall for food, as well as numerous small shops. Today, mainly ground plans and low walls remain, clearly revealing the layout of the ancient city center.
18. City walls: The nearly five kilometer long city wall of Paestum is one of the best preserved ancient fortification systems in southern Italy and enclosed the city in an approximately trapezoidal layout. Four main gates provided access, including the Porta Marina in the west and the Porta Sirena in the east, while 28 towers offered additional protection. In addition to these major gates, there were also 47 smaller openings, likely used for quick counterattacks during sieges. Even today, long stretches of the wall, several gates and the outlines of many towers remain clearly visible, making them some of the most impressive structures in Paestum.
19. Heroon: The heroon of Paestum is a small underground sanctuary dating to around 510 BC and is thought to be a symbolic tomb for the city’s legendary founder, even though no human remains were found inside. Instead, archaeologists uncovered several bronze vessels, a painted amphora and other offerings, suggesting that important rituals once took place at this site.
20. Ancient deposit of finds: Near the Temple of Hera I, archaeologists discovered large deposits of ceramics, terracotta objects and other items that had once been used in the sanctuary. These layers resemble an ancient refuse site today, but they were likely created when older offerings and cult objects were deliberately deposited or buried. For researchers, they are particularly valuable, as they provide key insights into the religious rituals and sacrificial practices associated with the cult of Hera.
21. Tomb of the Diver: The Tomb of the Diver was discovered in 1968 in a necropolis near Paestum and dates to around 480 BC. It is famous for its painted stone slabs, which depict, among other scenes, a young man diving from a platform into the water. This image is often interpreted as a symbol of the transition from life to death and is considered one of the rarest surviving examples of figurative painting from ancient Greece.
22. Museum: The Archaeological National Museum of Paestum, opened in 1952, displays numerous important finds from the ancient city and its surroundings. Among the most renowned pieces are elaborately decorated stone relief panels from the sanctuary of Hera at the Sele River, as well as the famous Tomb of the Diver. The museum also houses many painted tomb slabs from Lucanian graves and other artifacts that offer a comprehensive insight into the region’s history from prehistory through the Roman period.
23. Origin of the name: The ancient city was originally known by the Greek name Poseidonia, meaning “city of Poseidon,” a reference to the sea god of Greek mythology. When the city later came under Lucanian control, the name evolved into the Italic form Paistom. With the establishment of the Roman colony in 273 BC, this eventually became the Latin name Paestum, which is still in use today.
24. UNESCO World Heritage Site: The archaeological sites of Paestum have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 as part of the cultural landscape of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, which also includes the ancient city of Velia and the monastery of Certosa di Padula. In Velia, visitors can see, among other highlights, the Porta Rosa, a stone arch dating back around 2300 years. The site also features Roman and Hellenistic baths, an ancient theater and the remains of the acropolis. The monastery of Padula is one of the largest monastic complexes in Italy and impresses with its vast cloisters, a monumental church, richly decorated halls, historic library rooms and a famous sweeping marble staircase.