"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Sunday, July 15, 2001: Paestum - Agropoli to Paestum, Italy and back - 24 km

Frank here…

Hot again? Of course. After a late breakfast, I went for a walk with Teresa and her children and niece. I treated them all to gelati (ice cream) which can be found almost anywhere. Rosa and George and family then had me for lunch (which is often comparatively late in the day by North American standards).

Then I took a bike ride to visit the Greek ruins of Paestum which has been considered the cultural capital of Magna Graecia. The site was Greek from 6th century BC to 410BC, then Lucanian from 410 to 273BC, then Roman from 273 BC to 5 century AD. The three Greek temples (Poseidon, Ceres, and the Basilica) are of the Doric Style (built in the 4 and 5th centuries BC), and are all built in an east-west direction with sacrificial altars on the outside of the temples on the east side.

Tombs have been found with edible honey - holy cow! After more than 2000 years! It is speculated that some ash from the great volcanic blast of Vesuvius in 79 AD helped in the downfall of Paestum. Some of the ash formed a barrier for the adjacent rivers to flow freely into the Tyhrrenian Sea. As a result, swamps formed, mosquitoes flourished and malaria became an omnipresent rival. By 800AD it was virtually uninhabited.

It was not until the mid 18th century, during the age of Humanism and Renaissance that Paestum was rediscovered. It is interesting to note that, during the ten centuries of nonhabitation, many of the stones used to build the Greek homes were used by nearby locals for construction of their own homes. They did not realize that they were inadvertently dismantling a very important part of Italy's history.

Now the site is a well-managed and impressive place to visit, but still relatively unknown.

I was very thrilled to meet the author of a history book on Paestum, Dr. Nunzio Daniele. Upon hearing about my adventure and what PeaceBike was all about he gave me a signed copy of "Paestum - Hypothesis and Reality" and a free tour by one of his proteges from Germany named Martin.

After getting back to the Cuono's I took a five minute walk to the beach and went for a nice refreshing swim as the sun began to set. Late night dinner followed by long chats and goodbyes with everyone, especially Teresa, put me to sleep very easily.

-Can good exist if there is no evil?

-Frank Pollari

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