Day 12 - Sep 12, 2009 Last updated: 10/13/09 7:00pm PT
Day dodici, Paestum.
I thought Rust, Germany was in the middle of nowhere, but at least there was a town around it. Paestum is truly in the middle of nowhere. I’m not even sure if these fields around here are farms. We had just traveled for over 2 hours and got off the train in some deserted location in southern Italy because we read about Greek ruins from 500 BC. It sometimes makes me think we are pushing our luck a little. But a 10 minute walk in the right direction gets you to a small site with 3 big Greek temples, among Roman ruins. The only really impressive stuff here are the Greek temples.
The trip consisted of a 10 minute shuttle bus from the hotel to the local train station. A 30-40 min train ride to Pompeii. A 1 mile (20 min) walk across the modern city of Pompeii to a different train station. A 60-75 minute train ride to Paestum. A 10 minute walk to the site. It was also very hot, the official temperature in Salerno was 30C/86F. Paestum is a little farther south and a bit inland. The trains in Italy are not air conditioned. And they look like they haven’t been cleaned in 50 years. I could not see out of the windows. I think they leave the windows dirty to help block the sun.
Paestum was founded by the Greeks in the sixth century BC. This was once a seaport, but the water is now about 1 mile away. Paestum was conquered by the Lucanians in the fifth century BC, then the Romans in the third century BC. Archaeologists estimate that 13,000 people lived here in the Greek era. The Romans were superstitious, so when they took over, they left the temples and other sacred areas. The site was deserted for a thousand years, and rediscovered in the 18th century.
Although it was a bit of an effort to get here, it was well worth it. These temples have stood for about 2500 years.
The temples were misnamed by 19th century archaeologists. Of course, this is what modern archaeologists think. I’ll withold judgement until future archaeologists have a say.
There was a museum on site. Here is some Greek armor from around 500 BC
Temple of Ceres, 500 BC
Here’s one of the few pictures I took while holding the camera in my left hand. The Temple of Neptune is in the background. The stray rocks on the ground are the Roman ruins.
The most impressive (and biggest) was the Temple of Neptune. It’s the ‘newest’, from 450 BC.
The Temple of Hera. the oldest from 550 BC.
