Dr. Catherine Lomas

You must remember that the city in the 4th century BC did not just have a Lucanian population, the Greeks were there.

And the connection, the interaction between the Greeks, the Lucanians and other populations, it was crucial to then define this new language.

Yes, right now we're in the naus, the cellar.

This would have been the space where the cult statue was placed.

And you always have to remember that Greek temples are not like churches.

They were very different.

They were more like, you know, the house of the god.

And worshippers would have had access to these buildings, but most of the sacred rituals would have taken place outside by the altar.

That is a very good question and one that we've been trying to answer.

I mean, when the first archaeologists came to Pestum during the Grand Tour and they saw this monumental building... So that's 18th century Grand Tour we're talking about.

Yes, 18th century, mid-18th century, that's when the site starts being rediscovered, as it were.

And archaeologists thought that this temple was so monumental that it must have been the one dedicated to Poseidon, the god who protected the city of Poseidonia.

But in fact, archaeological evidence shows that that is not the case.

And this temple was more likely dedicated to the goddess Hera or perhaps to the god Apollo.

Yes, and we have several temples that were dedicated to her.

I mean, we have just behind us the so-called Basilica that was dedicated to Hera, and also the spectacular temple of Hera, just nine kilometres north of Pestum, at the mouth of the river Sele.

So this is a great example of Doric architecture, and more specifically, of the way in which Doric architecture developed here in Poseidonia.

And it's a very mature expression of Doric architecture as well.

I mean, with the other great temples that we have preserved here in Pestum, what we see is really the sort of stylistic development of these structures.

So with the Temple of Hera, the so-called Basilica...