\paperw4095 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs22 Posidonia was founded around the middle of the seventh century BC by Achaean colonists from the city of Sybaris, on th
e coast of modern-day Calabria. Its favored position at the center of a fertile plain allowed it to attain a high level of prosperity, a situation that was assisted by trade with the Etruscans. However this was undermined toward the end of the fifth cent
ury, when Posidonia was besieged and conquered by the Lucanians, who changed its name to Paistom. In 273 BC Rome, after defeating the local peoples, founded a Latin colony known as Paestum.
