Between 550 and 450 BCE, Greek colonists raised three massive Doric temples that now stand among the best-preserved examples of archaic architecture on earth. Established around 600 BCE by settlers from Sybaris, the city was originally named Poseidonia and thrived as a democratic Greek settlement for two centuries. It was seized by the Lucanians in 400 BCE, who renamed it Paistos, and finally taken by the Romans in 273 BCE, becoming the Latin colony of Paestum. Shifting trade routes and severe marshland flooding led to its decline and eventual Early Middle Ages abandonment, though it remains a titular bishopric today. Largely forgotten until the 18th century, the ancient city now sits within the municipality of Capaccio Paestum in Campania, a modern seaside resort with sandy beaches directly to the south, and a railway station situated immediately east of the ancient walls.
What to see
The excavated core covers 25 hectares, while the remaining 95 hectares of the ancient footprint lie unstudied on private land. The perimeter is ringed by 4.75 kilometers of largely intact polygonal defensive walls, standing 7 meters high and 5 to 7 meters thick. This barrier featured 24 towers (possibly up to 28 originally) and four main gates facing the cardinal points: Porta Sirena to the eastern hills, Porta Giustizia to the south, Porta Marina to the western sea, and Porta Aurea to the north, which was destroyed along with several towers when an 18th-century highway sliced the site in two. The undisputed centerpieces are the three temples in the Archaic Greek Doric order, defined by their pronounced entasis (downward widening) and broad, upturned mushroom-like capitals. The oldest, the First Temple of Hera (circa 550 BCE), sits furthest south. Erroneously dubbed "The Basilica" by 18th-century antiquarians who mistook it for a Roman civic building, it features a traditional open-air altar in front and an unusual nine columns across its short sides and eighteen along the lengths, accommodating two doors and a rare central row of seven columns inside the cella. Just north stands the Second Temple of Hera (460–450 BCE), formerly attributed to Poseidon and later used to worship Zeus and an unknown deity. Unlike the others, which retain only their architraves, this temple keeps most of its entablature intact and features wider columns with 24 flutes rather than the standard 20, set at smaller intervals. On its eastern front, a large Greek altar is intersected by a smaller Roman one built to accommodate a new road. To the north on the town's highest point is the Temple of Athena (circa 500 BCE), long incorrectly thought to be dedicated to Ceres; it is a transitional structure blending early Doric and Ionic styles, where three medieval Christian tombs in the floor reveal its later use as a church. Beyond the temples, the completely clear central area holds the Roman Forum—built over the Greek agora—a 200 BCE temple to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva), and six small Hellenistic shrines. An amphitheater of normal Roman pattern also remains, though its eastern half was buried under a new road in 1930, a destruction that local inhabitants claim led to the responsible civil engineer receiving a prison sentence. Nearby sits a small, circular, unroofed bouleuterion (council hall) with tiered seats, which was filled over in Roman times.
Visiting
The archaeological park is open to the public, allowing visitors to walk along original paved roads and observe the structural footings of long-lost buildings. Numerous excavated tombs lie just outside the walls. A modern national museum on the grounds houses the site's most delicate artifacts. Because good local marble was scarce, the temples were decorated with painted terracotta, the surviving pieces of which are displayed here. The museum also holds finds from the associated Greek site of Foce del Sele and the spectacular, rare bronze vessels excavated in 1954 from the heroön, a low, walled tumulus with a pitched-roof stone chamber built to honor an unknown local founder around a century after his death.
Our editors' tip
Look closely at the capitals of the First Temple of Hera to spot lingering traces of their original archaic paint, and count the 24 column flutes on the Second Temple of Hera, a subtle departure from the 20 flutes of standard Doric design.