Paestum, Temple of Neptune

Built starting in 600 BC, Paestum became part of the Roman Empire in 243 BC. Portions of three Greek temples still stand and are in better fettle than some of the buildings we have seen that are thousands of years newer.

The Temple of Neptune, dating from 600 BC, measures about 200 feet by 80 feet, with thirty-six columns 28 feet high, about seven feet in diameter at the base, and nearly five feet in diameter at the top. The limestone columns are mellowed by age, and the imprint of fossil reeds and aquatic plants are visible.

Nearby, the Basilica is 179 by 80 feet, and believed to be older than the temple of Neptune. The fifty columns taper from five feet in diameter at the bottom, to three feet at the top. The smallest of the three, the Temple of Ceres, is 106 by 46 feet, with about 34 columns that taper from four feet in diameter at the bottom to three feet at the top. (The word cereal is derived from Ceres, the mythological Roman goddess of grain.)

The temple ruins stand among aromatic herbs, cypress, oleander, ferns, and acanthus, enlivened by grasshoppers, lizards, and little snakes.