Area archeologica e Museo dell'Heraion sul Sele

At the mouth of the Sele, north of Paestum, Greek colonists established a sanctuary to Hera Argiva at the edge of their territory. Excavations in the 1930s uncovered thousands of votive offerings and a sculpted frieze whose metopes are now among the defining works of the National Archaeological Museum at Paestum.

Why it matters

The Heraion stood between the Sele and the Agropoli promontory, where the Greek city of Posidonia met the Etruscan world around Pontecagnano. Ancient legend connected its foundation with Jason and the Argonauts. Excavations by Paola Zancani Montuoro and Umberto Zanotti Bianco brought the sanctuary's art and history to light and helped shape the archaeological museum at Paestum.

What to notice

The limestone metopes, carved around 570–560 BC for the first temple, depict the labours of Heracles and episodes from the Trojan War. Their surfaces still bear traces of the paint that once covered them. The later Doric temple, built around 500 BC, had eight columns on each short side and seventeen on each long side, with two altars before it. Around 400 BC, a square building was added; loom weights and wedding-service pottery found there suggest a connection with women's service to the goddess. Terracotta offerings include enthroned figures of Hera holding a child, flower, cup or pomegranate.

Context and history

The sanctuary occupied a marshy landscape at the river mouth and was eventually abandoned after repeated flooding, between the third and fourth centuries AD. Excavations in the 1930s recovered the site from alluvial deposits. The Museo Narrante opened in a former farmhouse in 2001 and closed after a flood in 2011. Architectural elements from the sanctuary have since been incorporated into a museum route at Paestum, while the original metopes are displayed in the National Archaeological Museum.