Heraion at Foce del Sele
The Heraion at Foce del Sele (English "Heraion at the mouth of the
The site is in the modern Italian comune of
Construction at the complex is dated from the sixth to at least the third centuries BC. The sanctuary included a Greek temple and other buildings. It was located in the countryside rather than in an urban development and may have included buildings to accommodate pilgrims.
During the Middle Ages most of the stones were scavanged for use elsewhere as building materials or for other purposes. At one point, the best surviving pieces, including approximately 70 sixth-century metope reliefs, were excavated and moved to a museum at Paestum and very little was left at the original site other than the lowest courses of the buildings.
A modern "museo narrante" has been built at the site with video displays to explain and project reconstructions of the site.[citation needed]
Ancient references
Although the existence of the sanctuary is reported by ancient historical sources, for a long time its location was not corroborated by other evidence. Differing ancient references made the rediscovery of the remains difficult.
History
The ancient sanctuary was founded at the beginning of the sixth century BC by the Greek colony at Paestum who originally were from further south at Sybaris. They dedicated the sanctuary to Argive Hera, the Greek goddess of women and marriage, as well as of navigation. At that time, the Sele River represented a boundary between Greek and Etruscan areas of influence.[2]
Initially cult activities must have been performed in the open, in a sacred area equipped with an altar and bounded by porticos for hosting pilgrims. At the end of the sixth century, a grand temple was built, which probably was
After the takeover of Paestum and the area by the local
In 273 BC, the area was absorbed by the Roman Republic, who turned Paestum into a colonia. The weaving building was destroyed and a wall was built around the sacred area. The sanctuary survived in a slow decline until the second century AD. The area silted up and eventually memory of the site was lost beyond the local area.
The cult of Hera survived through all of these changes in a Christianised form as the Madonna del Granato (Madonna of the Pomegranate), whose cult in the vicinity of the sanctuary recalls the depiction of Hera with the pomegranate.
The sanctuary was brought to light by the excavations of the archaeologists Umberto Zanotti Bianco and Paola Zancani Montuoro between 1934 and 1940.
Metopes
Approximately seventy
Most of the early group of metopes were carved in sections, consisting of a
The local stone is coarse and not suitable for carving detail. If only for this reason the figures in the reliefs are lightly modelled and relatively flat, but around their outlines the stone has been deeply cut back. Some have only the outline deeply carved, with the figures blank and flat. These may have been unfinished, or intended only to be painted.[3] It is likely that all the reliefs were painted in bright colours. The muscularity of the figures is comparable to the style of sculptures from Sybaris, from which the members of the founding colony had migrated.
Although the three main Greek temples at Paestum are still standing, none of them had sculpted reliefs resembling these; perhaps painted scenes, now lost, substituted for them.
As those of
The metopes are now in the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, which was built in 1950 to house these discoveries and those from Paestum. Their arrangement in the museum follows the presumption at that time of an early treasury building and as they were thought to have decorated it, rather than an early temple.
The identification of some subjects among the metopes and the extent to which the ensemble reflects a coherent programme, have continued to be discussed by scholars as excavations reveal more accurate evidence.
Votive gifts
Artefacts found during excavations of the sanctuary have included a large number of buried votive offerings (mostly terracotta statuettes of the goddess) that were buried some time after being left at the shrine. A large portion of these votives are on display at the site of the sanctuary in the Museo Narrante del Santuario di Hera alla Foce del Sele, located in a reconstructed farm house (the masseria Procuriali).
A first deposit was found near the temple and was made up of five ditches lined by stone slabs and covered with stone as well. These artefacts were deposited between the sixth and second centuries BC. Some evidence of burning relates to the sacrifices offered at the times of the burials.
A second deposit consisting of one large ditch also was discovered. It contained approximately six thousand artefacts, including terracotta statues and small bronze objects, dating from burials between the fourth and second centuries BC. Some coins from the second century AD that were deposited in a flood were also found there.
Notes
- Perseus Project
- ISBN 0198143869
- ISBN 0198143869
- ^ Jean Charbonneaux; Roland Martin; François Villard, La Grecia arcaica : (620-480 a.C.), Milano, Rizzoli, 1969, pp. 189-190.
Bibliography
- "The Sanctuary at the mouth of the River Sele" Archived 2019-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, www.paestum.org.uk
- The Frieze from the Hera I Temple at Foce del Sele by Frances Dodds Van Keuren
- Charbonneaux, Jean; Martin, Roland; François, Villard (1969). La Grecia arcaica: (620-480 a.C.). Milano: Rizzoli. [ISBN unspecified]
- Paola Zancani Montuoro; Umberto Zanotti Bianco (1951). Heraion alla Foce del Sele. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato.