Yesterday the Romans, Today the Greeks

The Temple of Athena

Tuesday, 3 July
Very few people talk about this or go to see it, but we had an awesome time today!  We went to Paestum, a town 2 1/2  hours south of us.  It has the remains of a Greek settlement.  Not just houses, but  temples, and roads, and pillars.  And the great thing is, you can just walk around.  The only thing you can't climb are the three temples.  But I was walking through houses, from one to the next, walking down the street--it was great!!

To get there, we drove along the Amalfi coast to get off our little peninsula, and that was beautiful!  Not as crowded as Randy had feared.

The Amalfi Coast

All of these towns were teetering on the edges of the cliffs and life went on.  I saw a lot of garages by the road and then steep stairs leading either up the cliff or down to the house.  Every little corner was used and had a shop or house in it.  One sight had me laughing so hard I almost choked!  I looked to the left and saw a man with a pulley, then I looked up and what he was raising up was a wheelbarrow! To get to the next level up!!  (Well, it was funny then.)  The roads are a bit harrowing, especially with narrow roads, buses, and there being absolutely no shoulder on the road--the line on the edge is usually at the retaining wall.

Anneliese in her "I'm too cool" pose

Somebody's got to hold the column up (actually they were chasing
after a lizard that slithered up and into a crevice).  

Back to the Greeks.  For about 30 years, they left Greece to found new colonies because of overcrowding.  One of those was Poseidonia (where Paestum is now).  Then this happy colony was invaded by evil warriors, then the Romans came and took over.  The Romans left the temples because they were sacred sites, then built their own houses.  

The old walls of Roman houses

The Greeks had built 3 large temples as well as numerous smaller ones that do not exist anymore.  The oldest temple, called the Basilica, is Hera's temple (she was the goddess queen).  Then, the Athena's temple (the Romans called her Minerva).  These two temples were very affirming of the strong role of women in Greek society.  When they found the last temple to be built. they thought it was dedicated to Poseidon (Neptune) which is who they named the town Paestum, a combination of Poseidon and Neptune.  Archeologists figured out later that it was actually Apollo's temple, because he was a doctor and they found things elated to that.

This is Apollo's temple--the most recent

This is Hera's temple--the basilica--the first temple built.
Athena's temple is at the top.

The best thing is that you can just walk around!  They have placards placed at different points for you to read, but they aren't obvious.  For most of them, I turned a corner, and said, oh, there's another one, and read it.   One even walked me through a traditional Roman house complete with a marble pool on the floor to collect rainwater and it described which rooms were which and where they were--it was very cool!  (I am such a geek, but I was having such a good time!)

The sacred road.  This originally was lined with sidewalks and
porticoes which housed shops.  It linked the sacred areas of the
north and south.

More ruins

You can see some of the original plaster work of the walls and pillars.

They also had a forum and a theater of sorts (it was actually used for public meetings and elections).   The childrens' actors-within came out and they hammed it up:

Anneliese in a dramatic moment

Shelby has found it!

Joshua is proud!

After sweating in the sun, we visited the indoor museum to see some of the treasures that had been found.

These are handpainted panels of a burial vault from the necropolis found in a nearby city.

Details that were found.

After all of that fun, we decided to go dip our feet in the ocean (Mediterranean) nearby.  We found a sandy beach (most are gravel or huge rocks) and got wet.  We didn't have enough time to get our suits on and swim because it was 2 1/2  to 3 hours to get back to our apartment to make dinner.  The water was surprisingly warm because we were so far south.  Mmmm--it felt good!

Anneliese and Shelby in the Med.

Here is the sunset from the balcony off our room (that is the Mediterranean Sea in the background):