The "barbarisation" of Poseidonia and the end of Greek cults in Paestum

Fr. 124 WehrliofAristoxenus, on the "barbarisation" ofthe Poseidonians and the end of Greek cults in Poseidonia, refers to the political and cultural attraction Rome heldfor a section of the Lucanian aristocratic elites during the second half of the 4(th) century BC, particularly towards the end of the century. This cultural process of "self-Romanisation" was furthered by the Romans' advance into Campania and southern Italy and developed gradually over a long period of time; but it ended abruptly in 273 BC with the deduction of the colony ofPaestum and the founding of a new city on the spot. The gods of the Greek city of Poseidonia were by then truly dead and had been replaced by the Roman gods of the colony of Paestum.