Depositional history and palaeogeographic reconstruction of sele coastal plain during magna grecia settlement of hera argiva (Southern Italy)

The Sele river coastal plain, located in Campania (southern Italy), is a broad subsiding area associated with rifting of the Tyrrhenian Sea. During the early Holocene, the fast sea-level rise led to a transgressive coastal system with landward shift of beach and marsh-lagoon deposits. During the late Holocene, the decrease of sea-level rise rate resulted in the coastal system progradation and lagoon infilling. Settlement of the sanctuary of Hera Argiva by Greeks, in the Sele coastal plain, occurred in 6 th century B.C. Reconstruction of environments at that time allows to locate the coastline 250 m landward with respect to the present. A coastal system comprising a beach and sand dune ridge was present, and extensive bogs and ponds were formed behind the dunes. The sanctuary founded on the levee of the Sele river at the edge of the marshes was surrounded by a natural garden with luxuriant vegetation. The presence of Myrtus plants perhaps introduced by man in the Hera Argiva garden is inferred

The Mondragone relief revisited - Eleusinian cult iconography in Campania

This study of a Classical Attic votive relief found at Mondragone in northern Campania reaffirms the traditional interpretation of the deities depicted on it as members of the Eleusinian cult circle. Drawing on contemporary Eleusinian vase painting, the author argues that the relief depicts episodes from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The figure of Dionysos, leaning on the throne of Hades, indicates that this Attic relief was dedicated in a local or domestic sanctuary in Campania by Eleusinian initiates who may also have participated in the Dionysiac-Orphic Mysteries. Thus, the relief is a crucial piece of evidence for the diffusion of the Eleusinian cult abroad