Photographs of Paestum

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Originally known as Poseidonia, and built by the Ancient Greeks, Paestum is 24 miles from Salerno and on the VERY wet day that we drove there, it seemed like a very long way.

About 550 B.C. the oldest of the three temples of Paestum was built, it was dedicated to the Greek goddess of fertility Hera (the sister and wife of Zeus). The smallest of the three temples, the Ceres temple, was dedicated to the goddess Athene and was built about 500 B.C. The Poseidon temple (or Neptune temple) is from about 450 B.C. (about the same time the Parthenon in Athens was built). This temple is probably the best preserved Doric temple in the world.