Cultural change in the city of Poseidonia Around 1000 BC, there was a westward expansion of the ancient Greeks. It was in this period that the Greeks began to colonize large areas in Southern Italy. One of these colonies was named Poseidonia and was situated south of Napels, in the area that later would be called Magna Graecia by the Romans. Poseidonia was founded around 600 BC by colonists from Sybaris, which itself was founded by colonists from the ancient Greek city Achaia in 720 BC. Trade was the main reason for the founding of Poseidonia since this made it easier for Sybaris to transport goods from to areas around the Tyrrhenian Sea. This profitable trading-line did not last long, because Sybaris was destroyed by the Crotonians only eighty years later. Despite the fact that Poseidonia probably did not suffer from this event, it has been argued that around 400 BC the Lucanians invaded Poseidonia and took control over the city.1 Whether this did really happen remains a point of discussion, however, most scholars agree that a significant cultural change is visible in this period. If there was a Lucanian rule in Poseidonia around this period it did not last long; the city was transformed into a Roman colony during the rise of the Roman Empire around 300 BC, which made Poseidonia a Roman city. As shown in this paragraph, the city of Poseidonia probably knew three different phases on a technical level: a Greek phase, a Lucanian phase, and a Roman phase. This article will discuss to what extent the city of Poseidonia really became Greek, Lucanian or Roman on a cultural level. If we want to discuss the Greek phase, first there has to be paid more close attention to Sybaris. This colony was founded 120 years before Poseidonia and it is not likely that its inhabitants have never been influenced by the indigenous peoples in the area. It is therefore questionable to what extent the colonists from Sybaris were still Greek when they founded Poseidonia. If the founders of Poseidonia cannot be regarded as Greek in the first place, then the same goes for the later inhabitants of the city; one might even suggest that after a considerable amount of time, these inhabitants might have seen themselves more as Italic people than as Greeks. According to Skele, multiple traces have been found of indigenous people living in the colony of Poseidonia during the Greek period. However, he also states that the Temple of Hera I is a purely Greek temple without any indigenous influences.2 This temple stands in great contrast with the Temple of Athena or 'Atheneion', which is the first example of a sanctuary were Ionic and Doric elements are used within the same building. About this temple, Skele states that "while the temple taken as a whole is robustly Greek, there is a hint of local flavor as well."3 Striking about this temple is the fact that it does not stand in Greece but in Italy, which strongly suggests that it was Italic people who came up with the idea instead of the Greeks. The conclusion that can be drawn from this evidence is that we cannot regard Poseidonia as a purely Greek city; it would be better to regard it as an Italic city which was clearly influenced by its Greek history. According to some scholars and ancient sources, the Lucanians invaded Poseidonia around the beginning of the fourth century BC. However, based on archaeological evidence, Skele and Lomas come to a different conclusion. Both scholars write about the lack of traces of violence in the archeological record, which would suggest that Poseidonia was never taken by the Lucanians.4 This, however, does not mean that Lucanians did not live in Poseidonia; in fact it is even likely that they already lived there before the beginning of the fourth century BC. The question that rises is to what extent the Lucians influenced the material culture and identity within the city of Poseidonia. This question is answered by Wonder, who says that "an examination of fourth-century Paestan coinage supports our hypothesis of the Hellenization of the city's inhabitants in general."5 Greco, however, disagrees with Wonder; he claims that "a fusion between the old and the new inhabitants took place, which gave birth to a peculiar culture."6 According to Pedley, the new types of graves, tomb paintings, and grave goods provide the evidence to support Greco's vision. It remains to be seen if the Lucanians really did rule Poseidonia on a political level. However, we can be certain that there has never been a dominant and purely Lucanian culture within the city of Poseidonia. In 273 BC, the colony of Poseidonia became a Roman colony and thus a Roman city on a technical level. However, can it also be seen as a Roman city on a cultural level? On the one hand we see a city of which the name was changed to Paestum and a city-plan that was drastically altered; on the other hand we see a city in which the older temples from the previous phases stayed in use and where, according to Bradley, the indigenous habitants continued to live and participate in the government after the city was taken by the Romans.7 Moreover, Bradley and Lomas suggest that there has never been an Roman culture, since the inhabitants of the Roman Empire and Rome itself were people with various backgrounds and cultures. And if there never was a Roman culture, Paestum never could have been a Roman city on a cultural level.8 What we can conclude from the above is that Poseidonia knew three phases on a technical or political level: a Greek phase, a Lucanian phase, and a Roman phase. However, this distinction in phases cannot be made on a cultural level because there has never been a purely Greek, Lucanian, or Roman culture; in fact a pure culture does not even exist. The elements that can be seen as 'typical' for a culture are most of the times elements that we also see in other cultures in exactly the same periods in time. It is therefore incorrect to speak of a culture; it is better to speak about peoples, based on geography and clustering. 1 Greco 1996, 17; Pedley 1990, 97. 2 Skele 2002, 29. 3 Skele 2002, 29. 4 Lomas 1993, 34; Skele 2002, 43. 5 Wonder 2002, 41-42. 6 Greco 1996, 113. 7 Bradley 2006, 172-173. 8 Bradley 2006, 178; Lomas 1993, 6.