ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

The Religious Landscape ofPaestumThe Roman re-colonization ofPaestum (Greek Poseidonia) and the subsequentadaptations of the religious system there provide a contrast to the ex novo foundation ofFregellae. Paestum received a contingent of Latin colonists in 273 BCE, as a sistercolony to Cosa. 76The colonists occupied and partially reshaped the earlier Greek colonyof Poseidonia, which had been founded around 600 BCE and transferred under Lucanian77hegemony at the end of the fifth century BCE.The multiple shifts in controldemonstrate the strategic importance of this coastal town in the southern Gulf of Salerno,on the fertile alluvial plain between the mouth of the rivers Silarus and Capodifiume (to78the northeast and south, respectively).Prosopographic evidence suggests that thepopulation ofPaestum after the foundation of the Latin colony was mixed, including both7Qpeople of Latin and Oscan descent.Thus, the Roman colonists joined the remainingGreek and Lucanian populations of the city instead of driving them out of the cityaltogether. 80The Greek colony of Poseidonia celebrated a rich and varied religious life, withtwo major sacred precincts within the city (labeled the North and South Sanctuaries inmodern studies) as well as numerous suburban and extra-urban sanctuaries. 81Thus, whenthe Latin colonists joined this thriving city, there was already a significant local religious76 Veil. Pat. 1.14.777 Greco, D'Ambrosio, and Theodorescu (1996), pp. 15-17.78 Muggia, Anna. Brill's New Pauly. (2009) s.v. "Poseidonia, Paistos, Paestum."79 Bradley (2006), p. 175; Torelli (1999a), p. 76; Crawford (2006); Salmon (1970), p. 174 n. 65; andDegrassi (1967) III.338.80 Bradley (2006), pp. 172-173; Torelli (1999a), p. 43. According to Greco (1988, p. 82), the Latin colonyincreased the overall territory of the city from 70 to 120 ha.81 See Ammerman (1993), p. 135.170