3 Temples, 2 People, 1 History

Mom and I left early, just the two of us to go to Paestum. We had to take two buses and a train to get there. When we got to the station there was a short, pleasant walk to the museum and the ruins. 

First, we went to the museum, and bought our tickets and a little audio guide. The ruins were big, with fifteen stops on the guide, and three of them were temples. We started at the Northern temple, the one dedicated to Apollo (the sun god). The temple was huge, with six by thirteen columns on the sides. There was a big stone altar in the middle. We passed many other things on the way to the other temples. A house with a well, the baths, the forum and lots more. 

The second temple that we saw was the biggest and the most complete. The columns were nine by fourteen and the inside was huge. The scholars studying Paestum thought it was a temple or Neptune (otherwise known as Poseidon) the sea god. Because it was so big they thought it was so

perfectly corresponding to the greatness of the sea. It was such a beautiful day, there weren't any clouds in the sky, and the sky was a brilliant blue, so when we took pictures they looked fake. Just like if we were in a studio and we picked a Paestum background!

The last temple was the oldest and it was dedicated to Hera. Looking at the temple was crazy how long those columns stood there before they were discovered. The people that worshiped there were the starters of the Olympics! Now a hundred years seems like a long time, but compared to that, it's like a week! Really puts things into perspective, huh? After we saw everything outside, we went inside the museum. Everything there was either the inside of the temples or around the ruins. They had taken the top rim off of all the temples  because it had designs on it and it shouldn't be outside in rain or snow or really bad wind. The designs were lions, shells, tulips and any other odd design. There were also many statues, pottery vases and shards. 

My favorite was the tomb with the diver. It was painted on the lid of the tomb. The diver had jumped off columns that represented life. He was between the top of the columns and the unknown, the death. It was representing the way in which you have no idea what you're jumping into, but you're already falling. All in all it was a really cool day, but it also really wore me out.