Italy (Campania): 13 fun facts that will make you visit Paestum, home to the Greek gods
Italy's Campania harbours one of the most well-preserved and beautiful pieces of ancient Greece: Paestum. The ruins has survived almost 3.000 years unscathed by miracle (or by intercession of the Greek gods themselves!).
Roaming amongst the intact ruins feels a true priviledge: you can still walk on the footsteps of the Greek deities, Hera, Athena and Neptune to whom the three surviving temples are dedicated.
In the nearby stunning National Archeological Museum you can see the magnificent Tomb of the Diver, one of the most famous paintings of the whole world Greek heritage.
If these reasons are not enough, here are 13 fun facts and reasons why you will want to visit Paestum and the archeological site.
👉Love the breathtaking scenic route to Paestum
From the south of Salerno the twists and turns of the coastal road that take us to the Cilento area are just breathtaking: the vast Gulf of Salerno that keeps us company throughout our one-hour car drive to Paestum is effortlessly beautiful with its wavy grey pulse. It's March and the sky is still greyish. The scenery has almost a meditative light and we feel that the scenic route is one reason more to travel to Paestum.
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| Scenic view on the Salerno Gulf Coast |
👉Spend two hours on the Argonauts' path from the sea to Paestum
Suddenly, the sea disappears to make way for the intense green of the dense pine forests of Capaccio, the closest town to the Greek ruins of Paestum where we are heading to. If you have two hours to spare, you can walk from the sand dunes of the seaside resort to Paestum on the Argonauts' path crossing the pine forest.
In late spring the sea is inviting, but the first dive has to wait: the water sea temperature is a bit too chilly for our liking. I am sure that bathing'd have been a daring task even for Jason, the mythological Greek leader of the Argonauts who are thought to have founded Paestum.
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| The prize of our walk: Paestum |
👉Meet the Greek heroes of Poseidonia (without going to Greece)
Even in Italy you can have a taste of Greek art and history: according to the legend, Jason and his fellow Argonauts founded a Greek town: Poseidonia. Today we call it by the Roman name, Paestum, but at that time the city name was after the Greek sea god, Poseidon, the tamer of storms, horses and earthquakes.
I am sure that Poseidon was good at managing storms, horses and earthquakes, but I am not sure about taming tourists who come here and visit the three temples in the summer (over 700.000 it is claimed|). However, when Paolo and I went to Paestum in spring we saw very few visitors. I suppose that around that time the Greek gods are on holiday too!
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| The Greek temples at Poseidonia |
👉Don't buy the story of the Greek gods? Well, Poseidonia was founded by Greek migrants... from Calabria😊
Sometimes real life and history are more interesting than fiction and myths. Actually, if you don't believe in the mythological story of the Greek gods founders of Poseidonia, then you might want to hear what the archeologists have to say.
They say that the three Greek temples had really been founded 3.000 years ago (sixth century BC) by sea migrants from Greece who had already settled in Sibari, another ancient Greek city in today's Calabria.
Under pressure to expand their power or possibly to escape and seek refuge or for any other reason that they might have had, they packed up their stuff, and off they went to the area where they founded Poseidonia, later called Paestum by the Romans.
These restless Greeks!
👉Discover why the town is still there after 3000 years (luck aside)
If you think for a moment about the massive number of catostrophic events that might have hit the poor town of Poseidonia-Paestum, and events that have hit the area but left it unscathed, it would not be wrong to say that it has been a godsend for Paestum, so to speak.
However, without stealing anything from the gods, there's also another reason behind Poseidonia-Paestum longevity and that is the building materials.
Greeks of Poseidonia did not use marble like in Greece to build the temples, simply because there was no marble in the area. They used other stones: travertine (better know as limestone).
After 3.000 years the local travertine stone of which the Greek temples and the Roman gigantic walls surrounding the town are made is still there because when you bring out the rock, it gets harder and harder over centuries by simply exposing it to the sun and the rain.
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| After thousands of years Paestum temples are still there |
Yup, the Paestum doric temples that you will visit are three: the temple of Hera, the temple of Athena and the huge temple of Neptune.
They are huge temples.
When the philosopher Nietzsche visited Paestum he wrote in his travel diary that god had built his house with huge blocks of stone. I am no Nietzsche in any form or shape, but the sight has left ME speechless too. The ruins has a sacred and solemn beauty like that of a wise old lady still in very good shape.
On top of the three old temples, tickets include also the local National Archeological Museum and the Archeological Park of Velia in Ascea Marina, 40 minutes by car south of Paestum.
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| Intact Paestum archeo site will leave anyone speechless |
👉Are the temples dedicated to the right gods? Oh, yes! Let's find out why!
Like all Greek temples they were built facing the sun with the main gate set eastwards. For example, in the temple of Athena, the pilgrims would walk around the temple aisle to worship the huge statue of the goddess Athena placed in the middle without getting access to the actual naos, the inner chamber where the statue was standing.
Outside the temples there was an altar for sacrifices and offerings to the gods which you can still see in Poseidonia-Paestum.
We know lots of things about the temples, but how do we know that was the temple of Athena or the temple dedicate to Hera?
Easy peasy: for exaple, around the temple of Athena, statuettes of the goddess of war and wisdom were found with the typical features of Athena!
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| One of the temples: Temple of Athena (Paestum) |
👉Paestum is all about girl power: Athena and Hera and all their girlie stories
It is quite amazing that out of the three surviving temples, at least two are dedicated to goddesses, Athena and Hera, which make us think that Paestum was a feminine city. It must have been with all this showing off of "girl power"!
All the Greek goddesses were weird in their behaviour: love, hatred and jelousy were their human-like feelings and their stories were based on women's traits rather than superantural ones!
Take Athena: she was quite a special child because she was born (literally) out of Zeus' head; no wonder Athena was the goddess of reason. The funny part is that she was born already full-grown, dressed in her armour and ready to fight!
In fact, Athena was the goddess of clever warfare, being quite busy to protect also wisdom, artisans, and agriculture.
Isn't multitasking a woman's trait?
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| Full-scale copy of Athena statue in Nashville, US |
Let alone Hera.
Hera, the goddess of gods, was the queen of the deities: at the same time she was the sister and the wife of Zeus!
She has always been portrayed with a frown. It is easy to tell why: Zeus, her husband, was cheating on her all the time. Hera was very revengeful on Zeus' lovers: for example, she punished Echo, one of Zeus' mistresses by depriving her of the voice and forcing her to repeating other people's words!
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| Hera |
Hera hated Zeus' illegitimate son, Hercules, and tried to kill him by putting snakes in his cradle. Funnily enough Hera is regarded as the protector of family and birth!
The lady had also quite a temper: Troj's war started because of Hera's hatred against Paris, the king of Troj's son who had declared Aphrodite the winner of a beauty competition in which Hera had taken part too!
👉Did you know that the Greek temples had dazzling colours?
Did you know that the Greek temples in Paestum were all decorated and were really colourful? For example, the temple of Hera on the top was full of leaves, lotus flowers and rosettes. The crowning of the temple was in painted terracotta and ended with palmettes. Apparently from the traces left the main colours were red and blue.
If you are quite curious to learn how the colourful temples looked like there are quite a few 3D reconstructions and maquettes on Youtube.
👉Paestum: UNESCO World Heritage site. Is that enough?
In addition to the three temples, the whole archaeological area have been granted the UNESCO World Heritage Site seal since 1998.
The archeo site includes also the Via Sacra (the main street of a Roman city), the Sanctuary of Hera at the mouth of the Sele, the Necropolis, the Forum, behind which there is a Roman Amphitheater, the Ekklesiasterion (the area for the public meetings), the founder's memorial worshipping place called "Heroon" and obviously the huge walls with a perimeter of almost 5 km and whose four entrances are placed at the cardinal points.
👉See the Greek Tomb of the Diver and the love scene
One of the main reason to visit Paestum was for us the most important Greek piece of the whole site, a gem of the Paestum Archeological Museum: the frescoed Tomb of the Diver dating 480 BC.
In the picture you see a young athletic man diving into a pond of water which is crystal clear. He is jumping from a sort of tower or a trampoline. His body is actually very detailed including a goatee beard and his man's parts.
It has been claimed that he is jumping into the underworld; however the Greeks did not believe in afterlife in the modern sense.
The beautiful painting which was the lid of a coffin shows also a group of men having a party: some play with cups and others look at one another with loving eyes, staging a very intense erotic scene.
Check out also my blog post: 6 reason why travelling to Sicily will make you a better lover
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| Tomb of the Diver in Paestum |
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| The Banquette slab in the Tomb of the Diver |
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| Detail of the love scene on the Tomb of the Diver |
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| Example of Greek burial place similar to the Tomb of the Diver |
👉Guess what happened to the city after the Greeks and the Romans
The city was Greek until 400 BC when Poseidonia was conquered by the Lucanians, a warriors' tribe. After the Lucanians the Romans came and it was when actually the place became Paestum as we know it today.
Paestum bloomed and became very rich until when the Romans built the Appia Antica road, farther north, and Paestum started a slow decline. Some say that the decline was linked to the fact that in Medioeval times the area became a swamp because of the local Sele river sediments. For sure, the area became unhealthy, and people left. The temples fell into ruins.
Over time famous archeologists and engravers like Giovanni Battista Piranesi, writers like Wolfgang Goethe and philospher and sexual libertine Marquis De Sade wandering around Italy in 18th century during the Grand Tour described very well in pictures and travel diaries the feel of Paestum. Their accounts are a source of information on how the area looked after centuries of forgetfulness: a swampy area, tall grass, and cows grazing all around the temples!
How did Paestum look like as a swampy ground?
See the wonderful collection of Piranesi's drawings at the Sir John Soanes Museum, London.
👉Quite easy to travel to Paestum and access the National Archeological Museum
Despite the fact that train connections are not the best in Italy in general for minor destinations, going to Paestum by train is not an ordeal. You need to get organised to get to Paestum!
Go by train from Salerno or from Naples: it will take a bit more than half an hour ride from Salerno, and a bit more than an hour and half from Naples. Before going to Paestum, do have a look at the train fares and timetable on the Italian train company website, Trenitalia.
Once you get at Paestum train station, there's a fifteen-minute walk to the reach the archeo park set in the middle of the countryside. Don't forget there is no luggage safe or lockers at Paestum train station, and there's no ticket booth at the station either. You need to buy a return ticket beforehand!
Clearly the best option would be hire a car to Paestum: drive on A3 motorway exiting at Battipaglia.
The archeo park ticket is valid three days and you can buy it in advance online from the Paestum Park website.
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| Paestum archeo site |
You may also enjoy this blog post:
Sicily (Italy): 5 amazing places where you will be overawed by history
Hope you have enjoyed Paestum!
Thanks for reading!
MarcoPoloSpirit