Possibly a treaty of friendship between Sybaris, its allies and the Serdaioi (an unknown people) dates to this new foundation, because Poseidonia was the guarantor of this treaty.It is not until the end of the fifth century BC that the city is mentioned, when according to Strabo the city was conquered by the Lucanians. This is suggested by the great resemblance of the coins of Sybaris to those of Poseidonia in this period. Poseidonia might have had a major share in a new foundation of Sybaris which lasted from 452/1 BC until 446/5 BC. Graham thinks it was plausible that the number of refugees was large enough for some kind of synoecism to have occurred between the Poseidonians and the Sybarites, possibly in the form of a sympolity. In the early fifth century, Poseidonia’s coins adopted the Achaean weight standard and the bull seen on Sybarite coins. Coinage, architecture and molded votive figurines all attest to close relations maintained with Metaponto in the sixth and fifth centuries.It is assumed that Poseidonia harbored refugees from its mother city Sybaris when that city was conquered by Croton in 510 BC. Another hypothesis is that the Sybarites were aided by Dorians in their founding of Poseidonia.Īrchaeological evidence from Paestum’s first centuries indicates the building of roads, temples and other features of a growing city. As a consequence it has been argued that Paestum was founded by the Troezenians referred to by Aristotle. Gaius Julius Solinus calls Paestum a Dorian colony and Strabo mentions that Troezen was once called Poseidonia. Aristotle wrote that a group of Troezenians was expelled from Sybaris by the Achaeans after their joint founding of that city. The date of Poseidonia’s founding is not given by ancient sources, but the archaeological evidence gives a date of approximately 600 BC.Īlternatively, the Sybarites may in fact have been Troezenians. According to the historical tradition the sanctuary to Poseidon was located there, after which the city would have been named. The fortifications might have been built to the south of Poseidonia on the promontory where Agropoli is now. The colonists had built fortifications close to the sea, but then decided to found the city further inland at a higher elevation. Today the remains of the city are found in the modern frazione of the same name, which is part of the comune of Capaccio in the Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy.Īccording to Strabo the city was founded as Poseidonia (named after the Greek god of the sea) by Greek Achaeans from Sybaris. The ruins of Paestum are notable for their three ancient Greek temples which are in a very good state of preservation. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name as Pesto or Paestum. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia (Ancient Greek: Ποσειδωνία) it was eventually conquered by the Lucanians and later the Romans. Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia.
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