Imagery location of so-called Underground Shrine
Creators: Keri Lynne Porter
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sanctuary (religious center)
{ "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 15.00489, 40.42327 ] }
Restored
Certain
representative
- Classical (Greco-Roman; 550 BC-330 BC) (confident)
- Hellenistic Greek, Roman Republic (330 BC-30 BC) (confident)
- Citation:
-
- Montini, Alessandra. 2002. “Italy: Paestum.” In UNESCO World Heritage, Archaeological Sites and Urban Centres, edited by Marco Abate, 60-65.
- Napoli, Mario. 1970. Paestum. Novara, Istituto geografico De Agostini.
- Pennino, Luciano and Alberto Carlo Carpiceci. 1995. Paestum and Velia: Mysteries and Legends from the origins to the declines. Salerno [Italy] : Edition Matonti Salerno.
Pleiades
The Underground Shrine, located in the agora of the ancient city, was first constructed in the sixth century BCE. The exact use of the building is still unknown, but the artifacts found within (iron bars with remains of leather, a ceramic vase, a black-figure Attic vase, and eight bronze vases sealed with wax, containing honey that was still soft) suggest that it had some kind of religious purpose. The building is most commonly believed to be a shrine to worship a god of fertility (particularly the Nymphs), or a heroon dedicated to the founder of the city. The building is easily recognizable from the large red tiles that cover a double-gabled roof added during the third century BCE, along with a rectangular enclosure. The temple was buried during the later Roman phases of occupation and was not rediscovered until 1954.
Locational information from Google Earth. Temporal information from UNESCO.