Metaponto (ancient Metapontion, the Greek colonial city founded by Achaean settlers from the Peloponnese in the 7th century BC on the coastal plain at the junction of the Basento and Bradano rivers in what is now the Basilicata Ionian coast) is the most historically significant ancient site in Basilicata and one of the most significant in the Magna Graecia (Great Greece, the Greek colonial cities of southern Italy and Sicily) circuit. The specific Metaponto historical distinction: Pythagoras (the mathematician and philosopher, born in Samos approximately 570 BC) came to Metapontion after being expelled from Croton (his previous city) and died here approximately 495 BC, the city where the theorem-naming mathematician established the final phase of his philosophical school and died is a Greek colonial city in what is now inland Basilicata, not a place that the standard biography of Pythagoras makes immediately clear. The grave of Pythagoras was shown to visitors in Metapontion for centuries after his death. Its location is no longer identified.
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Metaponto: What to See
Le Tavole Palatine (Temple of Hera)
The Tavole Palatine (the "palatine tables", the name given by the medieval population to the 15 surviving columns of the Doric Temple of Hera, visible on the plain north of the modern Metaponto town) is the most impressive surviving ancient monument in Basilicata: the 15 columns (of an original 32, arranged 6x12 in the Doric peripteral order) stand in their original position on the temple platform, providing a complete visual experience of the Doric colonnade without the reconstruction complications of the Agrigento temples. The temple was dedicated to Hera (the consort of Zeus, the primary goddess of the Achaean settlers who founded Metapontion) and dates from approximately 570-550 BC. Accessible from the SS7 Appia road north of Metaponto, free access during daylight hours.
Museo Nazionale di Metaponto
The Museo Nazionale di Metaponto (in the modern Metaponto town, adjacent to the archaeological park) contains the finds from the Metapontion excavations: the terracotta architectural decorations (the specific antefixes and sima profiles of the temple building), the painted pottery from the Greek colonial context, the bronze votive offerings, and the specific numismatic evidence of Metapontion's independent civic identity (the Metapontion coin type, a sheaf of barley on one face, reflecting the city's grain-trading prosperity, is the most beautiful single coin type produced by a Magna Graecia city). The museum provides the material context for the temple visit and is essential for understanding what the surviving ruins represent.
Q&A: Metaponto Magna Graecia
How do I reach Metaponto from Naples or Bari?
By train: Metaponto has a railway station on the Bari-Reggio Calabria line (Trenitalia regional services). From Bari: approximately 1.5 hours. From Naples: approximately 2.5-3 hours with a change at Potenza. By car: from Naples, 250km southeast via the A3 Autostrada del Sole and the SS407 Basentana. Approximately 2.5 hours. Metaponto is best combined with the Policoro archaeological site (30km south, the ancient Siris and Herakleia, with the specific Pythagoras-connected history) and the Metaponto beach (the Ionian coast beach immediately below the modern town, long, sandy, and completely uncrowded outside July-August).
Curiosità
Il teorema di Pitagora (il quadrato dell'ipotenusa è uguale alla somma dei quadrati dei cateti) è associato universalmente al nome di Pitagora, ma i matematici greci conoscevano questa relazione geometrica già prima di lui, e le tradizioni babilonese e indiana la conoscevano indipendentemente. La specificità di Pitagora non è la scoperta del teorema ma l'inserimento di questa e di altre verità matematiche in un sistema filosofico più ampio, l'ipotesi che i numeri fossero il principio fondamentale della realtà. Che questa ipotesi sia stata formulata a Metaponto, nell'attuale Basilicata, è uno dei fatti più specificamente sorprendenti della storia della matematica.
Internal Links
- Magna Graecia: Il Contesto della Colonizzazione Greca
- Basilicata Storica: Venosa e Metaponto
- Basilicata Enologica: Vulture e Costa Ionica
- Basilicata Autentica: La Regione Dimenticata
- Basilicata Fuori Stagione: La Scoperta del Sud
- Spiagge Ioniche: La Costa di Metaponto
- Come Arrivare a Metaponto: Treno e Auto
