Continued From Paestum – Part I Southern Sanctuary Heading toward the southernmost part of the city and the southern sanctuary are the other two major temples of Paestum. The northern most of these two temples is the Temple of Hera II, or the Second Temple of Hera. Built between 460 BCE and 440 BCE, the…
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Today located in the fertile region of modern Campania (but was in antiquity part of the region of Lucania), the city of Paestum was founded by Greek colonists as Poseidonia sometime in the middle to late 7th century BCE. Strabo claims that the colonists were Achaean settlers from Sybaris, a Greek colony on the toe…
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Tibula The exact location of the city of Tibula, the northern terminus of the Tibula Sulcis road, is a matter of some debate. The generally accepted area is somewhere along the north coast of Sardinia. One theorized location is in the vicinity of present-day Castelsardo, just up the coast from Turris Libysonis. The other most…
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History Located on the northeast coast of the Sardinia, Olbia is today, as it was in antiquity, the primary city on the eastern coast of the island. The city has taken on a number of names throughout history; Civita, Phausania, and Terranova Pausania, before being changed back to Olbia under Mussolini. Historically, the founding of…
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For the final roundup of miscellaneous sites on Sardinia, we focus on the most northern part of the island, or more accurately, the northwestern part of the island. This route will cover roughly the northern part of the Sassari region. As with the other itineraries of this nature, the caveat is that most of these…
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I intended for the miscellaneous sites in the Sassari region to be a single post, but, it ended up running a bit long and made more sense to divide it up into two separate routes. This first of two Sassari routes essentially covers sites in the southern part of the region. A personal vehicle is…
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History Today, Porto Torres is one of the most important ports on the island of Sardinia. In antiquity, the city’s Roman predecessor, Turris Libysonis (alternatively Turris Libyssonis or Turris Libisonis), held a similar status on the island. Despite the name seeming to suggest some connection with North Africa, Turris Libysonis appears to be a settlement…
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For this week’s post, I’m going with another round up of some miscellaneous sites in Sardinia. This route can generally be described as the northern part of central Sardinia, roughly the northern part of the Oristano region and the Nuoro region. To see most, if not all, of the sites, a personal vehicle is pretty…
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History Located on the south bank of the Tirso River (called the Thyrsus in antiquity) are the remains of Forum Traiani in the modern town of Fordongianus. The spot of a natural hot spring, the location was likely a gathering and water cult site for the Nuragic population in the area; called the civitas Barbariae…
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Today’s post is another in the series that explores some of the smaller archaeological sites around Sardinia. This post focuses on an area generally defined as south-central Sardinia; essentially site in the modern provinces Medio Campidano, northern Cagliari, and southern Oristano. Many of the sites are fairly rural, so a car is absolutely essential in…
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