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Metaponto Archeological site

The ancient Metapontum, today Metaponto, was born on the site where the mouths of the Basento and Bradano rivers meet the sea on the Ionian coast.

Metapontum was apparently founded by Greek colonists who settled on a hill on the Tavole Palantine in the 8th century BC. The town developed slightly farther south in the 6th-7th Centuries B.C. Often allied with Sybaris and Croton, Metapontum was a significant trading emporium, especially for the export of cereals; indeed an ear of corn was impressed upon the city's coins.
In the 6th century B.C. Pythagorus came and in 532 B.C. established his his school of philosophy, which remained active for about two centuries after his death. The town, was occupied by Pyrrhus and allied with Annibal against Rome. Later it was sacked by the slave-rebel Spartacus.

A visit to Metaponto starts with the countryside surrounding the archaeological nucleus: this is the so-called Chora, which has been divided into the 39 portions which had been entrusted to settlers.

Many tombs, emporiums and Neolithic settlements have been found in the area establishing settlement long before the Greeks arrived. Indeed, the Greeks in the 6th Century BC, the Greeks built the Temple of Hara on the Tavole Palatine, a hill originally inhabited by Neoliths. The temple originally had 18 columns, or mensole, with twelve on the long side and the remainder on the short. Fifteen columns which were refurbished in 1961, remain standing today. The ruins of a similar temple have been found at the San Biagio Casale.

Close to the Tavole Palatine stands a builiding which until recently housed the Antiquarium, exhibiting the wealth of archaeological material discovered in the area. is now on show to the public in the Metapontino National Museum in the town of Bernalda.