A new, important archaeological discovery has been made in southern Italy. The officials of the archaeological park of the Paestum-Velia area, in Campania, announced that the archaeologists brought to light a temple of the 6th century BC dedicated to the goddess Athena, with amphorae and two helmets of special historical value.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, these helmets were probably transported to Campania from ancient Aleria, a Greek colony in Corsica. This is the exact spot of the great naval battle of 540 BC where the Greeks confronted the Carthaginians and the Etruscans. The Greek ships prevailed, but then, due to the damages they had suffered, the “Greeks of Corsica” were forced to leave the island and establish the colony of Elea (or Velia), in Magna Graecia. The helmets that came to light during the excavations are very probably Etruscan, a war trophy the Greeks offered to the gods.
This is an extremely important discovery, which definitely needs further extensive study and proves, once again, the leading role of the Greeks in the trade and culture of the Mediterranean.
