Photo: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site, 499 BC
Temple of Athena
Building in Paestum, Italy
Capaccio Paestum (SA), Campania
At a glance
- Type
- Archaeological site
- Period
- Antiquity, 499 BC
- Style
- Ancient Greek architecture
- Dedicated to
- Ceres
- Dedicated to
- Athena
- Coordinates
- 40°25′28″ N, 15°00′19″ E
- Address
- Via Magna Grecia, 919
About
The Temple of Athena is a Greek temple of Magna Graecia found at Paestum, in Capaccio Paestum, a comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It was built around 500 BC and was for some time incorrectly thought to have been dedicated to Ceres, but as a result of the recovery of numerous statuettes in terracotta depicting Athena, it is now thought to have been dedicated to her.
Built on an artificial relief of the ground, it has a high pediment on the façade and a Doric frieze, adorned with metopes encased in sandstone, on slightly slender Doric columns. The structure is simpler than the two temples of Hera nearby, the first Temple of Hera, which is much larger than it, and the Second Temple of Hera.
The interior of the wide pronaos contained six columns in the Ionic style (four frontal and two on each side), of which the bases and two capitals remain. These capitals burst from an ornate collar. This seems to be the first example of two architectural orders, Doric and Ionic, co-existing in a single building. Almost nothing remains of the deep cella destined to house the statue of the goddess.
Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Full article: «Temple of Athena».
Timeline
- 499 BCBuilt
Events and people from Wikidata (CC0).
Photos
Getting there
PaestumTrain, nearest
900 m as the crow flies
Temple of AthenaVia Magna Grecia, 919
Port8.1 km
Aeroporto di Salerno - Costa d'Amalfi23.0 km
Distances are as the crow flies, not walking or driving.
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Nearby
See on the mapMore archaeological sites in Campania
- UNESCO
- Free 1st Sunday
- UNESCO
- UNESCO
- UNESCO
- Free 1st Sunday
- Free 1st Sunday
Frequently asked questions
Where is Temple of Athena?
Temple of Athena is in Capaccio Paestum, in the province of Salerno (Campania), Italy. Address: Via Magna Grecia, 919. GPS coordinates: 40.42450, 15.00538.
How old is Temple of Athena?
Wikidata dates it to 499 BC.
What else is there to see near Temple of Athena?
Nearby you’ll find: National Archaeological Museum of Paestum (200 m away), Archaeological site of Paestum (200 m away), Amphitheatre of Paestum (300 m away).
Sources and licences
Text. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Data. Wikidata (CC0); opening hours and contacts OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
Photos. Wikimedia Commons, author and licence on every image.
Credits for the 9 photos
- Paestum BW 2013-05-17 13-58-28 — Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Capaccio Paestum - Tempio di Atena - 2024-09-26 13-45-31 001 — Acquario51, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Capaccio Paestum - Tempio di Atena - 2024-09-26 13-48-18 001 — Acquario51, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Capaccio Paestum - Tempio di Atena - 2024-09-26 13-50-24 001 — Acquario51, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Capaccio Paestum - Tempio di Atena - 2026-09-23 20-17-48 001 — Daniele_Buccarella, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tempio di Atena (Paestum) WLM23 001 — Mentnafunangann, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tramonto al Tempio — Abbrey82, CC BY-SA 4.0
- I templi di Paestum — Lelemz, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paestum Juli 2023 9 — Kasa Fue, CC BY-SA 4.0
Updated 28 October 2026. All sources and licences