Object description

The Timpone della Motta is a hill two kilometers to the southwest of Francavilla Marittima in Calabria, Italy. It is an archaeological site which was inhabited since the Middle Bronze Age. In the Iron Age the hill was the site of an Oenotrian settlement. Over time the settlement was transformed into an important sanctuary, which was notable as the site of the first known ancient Greek temples on the Italian Peninsula. The Oenotrians were influenced by the culture of the Greek colonists from nearby Sybaris, who eventually took over the site in the second half of the seventh century. The hill was abandoned when the Bruttians conquered the region in the fourth century BC.