We have begun with a brief review of the archaeological knowledge we have acquired in half a century of research into the impressive stratification that concerns two protagonist cities in the history of the Greek West. In line with what we affirmed in the previous lecture, we have tried to stick rigorously to archaeological evidence without mixing it with literary sources, although we cannot do without using as firm reference points some fundamental dates such as that of the destruction of Sybaris (510 BC) or that of the foundation of Thourioi (444 BC), especially when they seem to be confirmable by material documentation.
In the second part of the lecture, I examined a case study of the extensive excavation I carried out at Thourioi. At the deepest level, the excavations revealed a Hippodamean plan with evidence of the "colonial" period. Above all, I found a large temple dedicated to Egyptian deities (surely Isis, attested by an inscription, and perhaps also Serapis) that was built in the Julio-Claudian period above a late-Republican predecessor which, in turn, was superimposed on a Classical-age sanctuary and perhaps an Archaic-age place of worship, thus attesting to the presence of Greeks since the5th c. BC.
