When the tomb was discovered, these surprising frescos revealed its importance as they appear to be the "only example of Greek painting with figured scenes dating from the Orientalizing, Archaic, or Classical periods to survive in its entirety. Among the thousands of Greek tombs known from this time (roughly 700–400 BC), this is the only one to have been decorated with frescoes of human subjects.
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^Boys and girls, that is what happens when you depend on Wiki snapshots instead of trying to learn something. In history, context is extremely important.
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Poseidonia is an ancient city in southern Italy near the west coast, 22 miles southeast of modern Salerno and 5 miles south of the Sele (ancient Silarus) River. Poseidonia was probably founded about 600 B.C. by Greek colonists from Sybaris, along the Gulf of Taranto, and it had become a flourishing town by 540, judging from its temples. (Poseidonia/Paestum is noted for its splendidly preserved Greek temples).
After many years' resistance the city came under the domination of the Lucanians (an indigenous Black Etruscan people) sometime before 400 B.C, after which its name was changed to Paestum. Alexander, the king of Epirus, defeated the Lucanians at Paestum about 332 B.C, but the city remained Lucanian until 273, when it came under Roman rule and a Latin colony was founded there.
During the invasion of Italy by Hannibal, the city remained faithful to Rome, and afterwards was granted special favours such as the minting of its coinage. The locality was still prosperous during the early years of the Roman Empire, but the gradual silting up of the mouth of the Silarus River eventually created a malarial swamp, and Paestum was finally deserted after being sacked by Muslim raiders in 871 A.D. The abandoned site's remains were rediscovered in the 18th century.
The ancient Greek part of Paestum consists of two sacred areas containing three Doric temples in a remarkable state of preservation. During the ensuing Roman period a typical forum and town layout grew up between the two ancient Greek sanctuaries. Of the three temples, the Temple of Athena (the so-called Temple of Ceres) and the Temple of Hera I (the so-called Basilica) date from the 6th century B.C, while the Temple of Hera II (the so-called Temple of Neptune) was probably built about 460 B.C. and is the best preserved of the three. The Temple of Peace in the forum is a Corinthian-Doric building begun perhaps in the 2nd century B.C. Traces of a Roman amphitheatre and other buildings, as well as intersecting main streets, have also been found. The circuit of the town walls, which are built of travertine blocks and are 15–20 feet thick, is about 3 miles in circumference. In July 1969 a farmer uncovered an ancient Lucanian tomb that contained Greek frescoes painted in the early classical style. Paestum's archaeological museum contains these and other treasures from the site.
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: ^Boys and girls, that is what happens when you depend on Wiki snapshots instead of trying to learn something. In history, context is extremely important.
this thread is about a specific tomb in a specific city Paestum, deal with the topic clown
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