Ruins of 2,400-year-old temple — hiding another ancient secret — unearthed in Italy
On the edge of an ancient city in Italy sat some long-forgotten ruins. The structure was once a sacred site and had been worn down by thousands of years of neglect — but it still hid a secret
Archaeologists uncovered the sacred ruins during excavations at the Archaeological Park of Paestrum, the Italian Ministry of Culture said in a Jan. 13 news release.
Paestrum, also known Poseidonia, was founded by Greek colonists in the sixth century B.C., according to Britannica. The ancient city flourished, constructed several massive temples and was taken over by the Romans before being abandoned in the ninth century A.D.
Today, the site is an archaeological park famous for a trio of ancient Greek temples, according to the World History Encyclopedia. The temples are “amongst the best surviving examples of ancient Greek architecture anywhere.”
The ruins recently uncovered by archaeologists represent one of the city’s less fortunate temples, officials said. All that remains of the roughly 2,400-year-old temple are its outline, steps and the bases of some of its columns.
Photos show the once-sacred temple. It’s built of large stones and has a rectangular outline.
Inside the 2,400-year-old structure, archaeologists found fragments of an even older temple, officials said. The older temple dated back to the sixth century B.C.
The older, 2,500-year-old temple was somehow destroyed, and its building materials were reused to build a second temple on the same spot, archaeologists said. Researchers suggested the material might have been reused for ritual purposes.
Archaeologists identified the pair of sacred buildings as Greek temples.
The director of the Archaeological Park of Paestum, Tiziana D’Angelo, said in the release that excavations of the temples are almost complete. The park plans to make the newly unearthed ruins accessible to visitors.
Paestum is located along the southwestern coast and about 160 miles southeast of Rome.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Italian Ministry of Culture.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Ruins of 2,400-year-old temple — hiding another ancient secret — unearthed in Italy."
