The archeologists who “discovered” it in the 18th Century can be forgiven for naming it the Temple of Ceres after the Greek goddess of agriculture. Its columns glow like golden sheaves of wheat in the morning sun. More modern excavations showed it was dedicated to Athena, the war goddess. In any event, this 2500 year-old structure may have been the inspiration for the Parthenon in Athens.
Temple of Hera
Paestum was a thriving Greek port in the 6th Century BC. In addition to the Temple of Ceres/Athena there are two other wonderfully intact (except for the roofs) temples, also misnamed. One hundred meters away, the Temple of Hera, formerly the “Basilica,” and the Temple of Neptune, more properly the Temple of Zeus, were built later. While most of the Greek town has been replaced by the 3rd Century BC Roman city, the Romans saved the Greek temples out of respect for the classical Greeks. And they respected the dead, going so far as to build a wall around and a roof over a Greek tomb before burying it entirely and building over it. Most of the knowledge of Greek Paestum along with the artifacts in the Paestum museum comes from this tomb and others in the neighboring necropolis.
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Temples of Hera and Neptune
As the Roman Empire continued its decline and the malaria epidemics of Paestum grew more severe, Paestum dropped from sight. The harbor silted up and it lost its value as a port. It existed in obscurity for 1500 years. I honestly had never heard of Paestum. Shame on me! It is one of the most impressive archeological sites I have seen – and certainly the best Greek site – and that includes Athens. And only 20% has been excavated.
