guide
paestum velia
art director enrica d’aguanno scientific advice laura del verme page make-up francesca aletto translation colum fordham photographic references soprintendenza per i beni archeologici delle province di salerno, avellino, benevento (special office for archaeological heritage of salerno, avellino and benevento e caserta – photographic workshop of the museo archeologico nazionale (national archaeological museum), paestum: giovanni grippo francesco valletta © for the images: ministero per i beni e le attività culturali (italian ministry for heritage and culture)
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cover paestum, temple of neptune and the basilica back cover velia, porta rosa
printed in april 2012 printing, graphics and layout born to print, naples
contents
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paestum the national archaeological museum of paestum the narrative museum of the temple of hera argiva velia
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archaeological plan of paestum
key to the archaeological plan of paestum a entrance “porta cerere” [gate of ceres] b entrance/exit main gate c entrance “porta nettuno” [gate of neptune] d entrance museum, ticket office, bookshop
porta giustizia
c
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1 the temple of athena, known as the temple of ceres 2 ekklesiasterion 3 heroon 4 comitium 5 the temple of mens bona, known as the temple of peace 6 the amphitheatre 7 the roman forum 8 the temple of neptune 9 the temple of hera, known as the basilica
b
5
porta marina
3
porta aurea
5 7
1
4 2 6
porta sirena
a d
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paestum
Paestum is famous worldwide for its striking Greek temples which continue to capture the imagination of visitors. The temples are still intact – few other ancient monuments are so well-preserved – after more than 2,500 years of natural disasters and social upheavals. Paestum regained the position it deserved in European and Mediterranean culture in the mid-eighteenth century as a popular destination of the Grand Tour – the journey of exploration and learning that formed the basis, and the elite origins, of modern cultural tourism. In prehistory, the area is associated with the name of the rural district of Gaudo which has brought to light the traces of an imposing cemetery, the subject of a recent exhibition in the Archaeological Museum. According to Strabo – the father of western geography – the Greek city was founded by Achaean colonists fleeing from Sybaris. The religious area of Agropoli on which the medieval castle stands probably corresponds to the temple of Poseidon [Neptune] Enipeus, the river god of Thessaly celebrated by the poet Lycophron.
7 The temple of Athena, known as the temple of Ceres
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paestum
9 The settlement of Poseidonia is bounded to the south by Capodifiume, and contains a mixture of sacred and secular spaces in accordance with the typical urban layout of Greek civilization. Situated on the boundary with the Etruscan-Campanian world, this defensive outpost of Magna Graecia in the Sele river plain was founded by an Achaean minority from Sybaris in about 600 BC. Evidence for this is provided by the foundation inscriptions of a small temple (shrine) lying to the south of the temple of Athena (known as the temple of Ceres), whose traces are imprinted in the roof of painted terracotta. The city occupies the limestone shelf in the centre of a large plain stretching from the hills of Capaccio, to the east and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. During the same period, the colonists dedicated a large temple to the goddess Hera to the north along the river Sele. Known as the Heraion, the temple is situated at the mouth of the Sele [see p. 26], which tradition associates with the deeds of Jason, the hero of the Golden Fleece (the fleece of the golden ram with magic healing powers). Rediscovered in the 1930s by Umberto Zanotti Bianco and Paola Zancani Montuoro, the temple was decorated by carved metopes (now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Paestum), one of the most important religious frieze cycles in the archaic Greek world. An important further development of the city took place between the mid 6th century BC, with paved streets, new houses,
sewers and drainage systems which trace the urban area. The area on the northern edge of the settlement was dedicated to Athena, and while the area to the south was dedicated to Hera; both are dominated by the large temples. The rediscovery of the religious buildings in the eighteenth century led to new attempts at interpretation, and the analysis of scholars of the period produced the first ‘evocative’ names. The temple of athena (late 6th century BC; restored and modified in around 520-510 BC) was identified as the temple of Ceres, perhaps due to the suggestion of Vitruvius. In his work de Architectura (first century BC), Vitruvius refers to the Greek colonists’ custom of building a propitiatory temple at the gates of the city, dedicated to the goddess of harvests and agriculture. Modern archaeological excavations have finally re-established the historical ‘truth’ thanks to the discovery of votive material and statuettes of the goddess Athena. The temple of Hera (530 BC), the oldest temple in the site, was referred to as a Basilica in the eighteenth century: ex votos and inscriptions once again enable the temple to be rightfully restored to its acAerial view of the temples on the following pages The temple of Neptune and the Basilica
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paestum
tual association with the wife of Zeus, the queen of the Greek pantheon. Situated in the plain between the two temples, the agora (later the Roman forum) was the centre of city life and took on a monumental appearance in this period with the heroon, the underground sacrarium which the Greeks dedicated to the founder of the city who was worshipped after death as a divine hero. Bronze vases (now in the Archaeological Museum of Paestum) were found in the building. They were still full of honey when excavated and are masterpieces of metal-working in Magna Graecia. All around there were private houses, with large uninhabited areas and, along the river Sele, there was another cult building dedicated to Hera of which the metopes with dancing girls still survive. The phase of expansion came to an end in around 480-470 BC with two imposing monuments: the temple known in the eighteenth century as the temple of neptune (mid 5th century BC), the emblem of Doric architecture in the west, was actually dedicated to the cult of Hera or – more likely – to Zeus, as is shown by the painted terracotta statuette with a beard and a bronze crown; the ekklesiasterion (480-470 BC) was built in the agora, the area used for public meetings; circular in shape and with tiered seating, the building is a successful combination of taste in terms of its architecture and town planning (later covered with earth and stones by the Romans who, during the republican period, built a
shrine in the area with a portico, fountain and storeroom). The morphology of the cemeteries confirms the conquest of Poseidonia in the last two decades of the fifth century – described by Strabo – by the armies of the Lucanians, an Italic people of Samnite origin. The enormous wealth of the grave goods reveal the new social model: weapons and sophisticated jewellery, reflecting the story of everyday life whose customs and rituals were far removed from the sobriety of Greek Poseidonia: banqueting, imaginary animals, demons, still life. In short,
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aristocratic civilization was immortalized by the painted tombs which today represent, together with the monumental temples, the emblem and destiny of the magical plain of Paestum. Large-scale urban architectural building was only resumed in the mid-fourth century with the imposing city walls (originally over seven metres high) which are still very impressive today with three kilometres of perimeter wall lining the environmental and historical breadth of the ancient city. There are four main gates: porta aurea to the north, porta della sirena to the west,
The Roman forum
porta giustizia to the south and porta marina to the east. The comparison and contrasts between the two identities incorporated within the city’s foundation – the Greek spirit and the Italic culture grafted onto it – are transformed, as in all the most fascinating experiences of history, into an inextricable cultural osmosis: a stele found in the meeting room, wedged in between two steps, bears an inscription in Oscan, “for received
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paestum
grace”, built by the Lucanian magistrate Statis and dedicated to “Iuppiter” [Jupiter]; in spite of political and institutional variations, it reflects the continuity in cult practice and civic traditions in about 300 BC. The threat posed by Rome loomed on the horizon. Poseidonia was asked to take sides in the first Samnite wars, first alongside the army of Pyrrhus and then with the militias of Tarentum. The city, and the Lucanians, were eventually defeated and were forced to accept the status of colony (273 BC). From this moment onwards, Paestum would remain a faithful ally of Rome, even during the Punic wars, and its urban layout underwent radical transformations. During the second century BC, the temple known as the ‘tempio della pace’, with its Corinthian Doric
architecture (2nd-1st century BC), was built in the northern side of the forum; dedicated to Mens Bona (the Roman deity of reason, called upon to supervise the capacity for discernment of the political class, subsequently became a symbol of the gratitude of freedmen towards the bona mens – ‘good mind’ – of their former masters). The temple splits the comitium, or meeting room, in two. During the midfirst century AD, the amphitheatre (first century AD; extended between the end of the first and the beginning of the second century AD) was built in the area behind the forum to the north-east. Unfortunately, in 1829, the amphitheatre was cut through the middle by the modern road which runs through the city. During the Christian era, Paestum main-
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tained and renewed its prestige. In its new guise as a bishop’s see, the heart of social life was transferred to the hill of Capaccio Vecchio. Caput Aquis was destroyed in 1246 by Frederick II and fell into the obscurity of memory and ‘romantic’ ruins. The city was gradually submerged within the mists of the unhealthy marsh which was only reclaimed under the fascist regime, during the revival of classicism which marked the prelude to the Second World War.
The ekklesiasterion [area for meetings] The amphitheatre
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first floor the roman city mezzanine floor prehistory and protohistory ground floor the greco-lucanian city basement educational workshop and toilets
3
4 2
1 b
a
a entrance museum, ticket office, bookshop
1 vase by asteas with the rape of europa
b exhibition area
2 room of the metopes
c educational section
3 tomb of the diver 4 painted lucanian tombs
c
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the national archaeological museum of paestum
The Museum provides a vivid portrait and reconstruction of the identity and longterm transformations of the archaeological site. Visitors can admire the rich finds that have emerged over the centuries from the extraordinary mixture of temples, civic residences and public places, shrines, tombs, theatres and natural ‘man-made’ environments. Based on the ambitious design of Maurizio De Vita (1938), the museum opened in 1952 and is situated in the heart of the ancient city walls. It provides a linear presentation of the four crucial periods of the life of the city of Paestum and the surrounding area, from prehistory to the osmosis and discontinuities of Greek, Lucanian and Roman civilisations: the collection ranges from the most ancient finds, the room of the metopes from the temple of Hera at the mouth of the river Sele, to the painted tombs, first displayed from the 1960s; at the centre is the icon of eternity, a journey on the discovery of musical banquets and games, the mystery of death, engraved on the stone slabs of the Diver; the elegant
grave goods include everyday objects, bronze vases, pottery and aristocratic status symbols. There also displays of collections of material related to the Lucanian civilisation. More recent displays include the section devoted to prehistory, on the mezzanine floor, and the rooms provide a succinct overview of roman paestum, on the first floor; these rooms complete the museum itinerary which explores memory and stratified identities. An undisputed masterpiece of Italic black figure pottery is the krater portraying the rape of europa, made by the potter Asteas (who was active at Paestum in about the mid-fourth century BC); the vase returned to Paestum in 2009 after an adventurous journey which took it as far as Malibu. The vase tells the story of Europa, the daughter of the king of the Phoenicians, and Zeus. In order to overcome Europa’s reluctance, Zeus turns himself into a gentle white bull who drags her out to sea as far as the island of Crete where the wedding is celebrated in the presence of divine accomplices.
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the national archaeological museum of paestum
Heracles kills the giant Alcyoneus metope of the temple of Hera at the mouth of the river Sele
Charon tomb slab, from the Andriuolo district
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the national archaeological museum of paestum
The tomb of the Diver from Tempa del Prete
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on the following pages The tomb of the Diver: the symposium from Tempa del Prete
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the national archaeological museum of paestum
Vase made of bronze [hydria] from the Heroon [underground sacellum of Poseidonia]
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Red figure vase [krater] portraying the rape of europa, signed by Asteas
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The narrative museum of the temple of hera argiva
As well as representing a milestone in archaeological research (1934), the temple of Hera argiva provides one of the most fascinating pieces of evidence for the culture of Magna Graecia. Amidst a background of history and legend, Jason’s ship set sail with fifty companions aboard the Argo. On his return journey, Strabo tells the story of how the hero of the Golden Fleece founded the temple dedicated to Hera, the protectress of marriage, who was the sister and jealous wife of Zeus: a pa-
gan cult thrived until the third century BC. Christianity reinterpreted the cult, which was also physically transferred to the hill of Capaccio, so that it was transformed into Our Lady of the Pomegranate: the Greek deity changed spiritual register but maintained the majestic appearance the facade of the museum the mouth of the river sele
27 of the matronly woman with the fruit which is the symbol of prosperity. Since 2001, the ‘narrative museum’ has been housed in the Procuiali farmhouse. The museum reconstructs the lost building of the temple and the original rites of 2000 years
ago. Visitors can admire the innovative displays and multimedia solutions, 3D images, films, sound effects and education panels, in the peaceful natural surroundings with the pastures of grazing buffalo.
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archaeological plan of elea-velia
5 6 4 7
3 a
b
2 2 1
a entrance, ticket office, bookshop b educational section
4 asklepieion [premises of the medical school] 5 porta rosa [pink gate]
1 roman cemetery 2 roman baths 3 cobellis farmhouse
6 theatre 7 acropolis
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velia
The site of the city of elea, known subsequently by the Latin name of Velia, now lies close to the shore of Ascea Marina, between Agropoli and Palinuro. Its importance in the ancient Mediterranean was due to its strategic position on the route between Greece and Etruria. Stretching over an area of 90 hectares of fertile countryside, Elea-Velia was an important trading port but gained fame and prestige in the Greek world as a result of its remarkable thinkers: the Eleatic school, including Parmenides, Zeno and Melissus of Samos, had good reason to choose this corner of paradise, set in the southernmost part of the Cilento, to meditate and make proselytes; the philosophers Xenophanes and Leucippus stayed within its hospitable walls of the Roman city of Velia, as did the precursors of a famous medical school and the grammarians Statius (father of the poet) and Palamedes, at least until 62 AD. The inhabitants of Phocaea in Asia Minor, exiled by the Persians and in search of new homelands, conquered the city of Enotria (the “land of vineyards�, according to the
Bust of the philosopher Parmenides from the college of the Augustales Greek definition of the south of Italy): according to Herodotus, this led to the foundation of Hyele [Elea]; the original centre (540-480 BC) stood on the acropolis, with streets, drainage channels and open areas between the houses, and was brought to light during the excavation campaigns di-
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velia
The acropolis with medieval buildings
rected by Amedeo Maiuri, beginning in 1921. Between the fifth and second century BC, the city housed cults dedicated to Athena, while the peripheral urban area stretched to the districts on the slopes of the hill, in harmony with the landscape and cultivated land with its natural terracing. The residential areas in the southern and northern parts of the site correspond to two ports, which probably had different functions; to the south lay the so-called “Diga Foranea”, a fully equipped quay which stood just fifty metres from the beach. The perimeter walls and the surviving public buildings still reveal a modern urban centre, the paved street running along the hill and linking the two districts, the acropolis and the terraces of the ridge where the religious buildings stand. The
itinerary ends with the gateway known as porta rosa (fourth century BC; it was named after the wife, Rosa, of the archaeologist Mario Napoli, from Salerno, who dedicated the ‘discovery’ to her in 1964; although it literally means “Pink Gate”, the name has nothing to do with the colours of the stone blocks of the arch, except perhaps at sunset). It is an unexpected and enchanting opening, joining the symmetrical areas of the seashore and the coast which are separated by the hill. The theatre and the small thermal bath building beside the Hyele spring on the acropolis, the channel system for draining rainwater, together with the small temples, cult buildings, altars and votive memorial stones (small monuments in the form of the shaft of column or pilaster, usually bearing an inscription), all reflect a lively civic and religious life devoted to the entire Greek pantheon. The two ports and the highly effective defensive fortifications (thanks to the lush and impassable natural vegetation), together with the diplomatic virtues that were innate to the colonist-philosophers, enabled Elea to resist Lucanian expansion which had incorporated Poseidonia; the location of the city, situated midway between the city-states of Magna Graecia, culminated in the decision to form an alliance with Rome. This allowed Velia to maintain full autonomy and control of the sea routes of the Tyrrhenian until at least 88 BC. The buildings dating to the Roman period of the site include two bath complexes, the
31 cryptoporticus (1st and 2nd century AD), probably the premises of the medical school (Asklepieion) or, according to other interpretations, a gymnasium or palestra, and the college of the augustales (the priests in charge of administering the rites of the imperial cult). The latter building has produced many interesting finds including the Velia head, the emblem of the city, and the sculptures with the portrait of parmenides and the meritorious doctors. The city’s decline began with the new road system of the Empire, strengthening the roads that provided direct links between Rome and the east through the Adriatic, and the gradual silting-up of the ports. Velia was therefore left out of the main
communication routes and became a sleepy fishing village. It was abandoned in the ninth century AD due to outbreaks of malaria and Saracen raids. During the middle ages, in 1100 AD, a palatine chapel dedicated to st Quirinus of Neuss was built on the ancient acropolis in the area just past the ruins of the theatre (restored in the 2nd century AD on the old hellenistic building). The Normans, led by Guimar, built the castle in the early 13th century in an ideal strategic position for scanning the horizon for potential threats. Castellammare della Bruca was built around the castle and remained an active town until the mid-seventeenth century.
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788856 902570
ISBN 978-88-569-0257-0