Combat persisted around the town for nine days before the Germans withdrew to the north. The Allied forces set up their Red Cross first aid tents in, and around, the temples since the Temples were "off limits" to bombing by both sides. Coins The coins of Paestum begin about 550 BC. These early issues were perhaps all festival coins. They usually have Poseidon with upraised trident. Issues continue until the reign of Tiberius. For unknown reasons Paestum alone of all the smaller Italian mints, was allowed to continue minting bronze coins by a Senatorial decree of about 89 BC, after this had been centralized. Later coins carry "P. S. S. C.", standing for "Paesti Signatum Senatus Consulto" to reflect this. In fiction In the novel My Ántonia (1918) by Willa Cather, the professor Gaston Cleric contracts a fever after spending the night outdoors admiring "the sea temples at Paestum". In the film Mare Nostrum (1926) by Rex Ingram, they visit Paestum. Gate to the Sea, a historical novel by Bryher published in 1958, portrays the flight of Harmonia, a Greek high priestess, from Poseidonia (Paestum), where the Greek inhabitants have been enslaved and culturally dominated by the Lucani since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Scenes in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts (1963) were filmed here – notably when the Argonauts assist King Phineus (Patrick Troughton), who has been blinded and is tormented by harpies for his transgressions against the gods. In return for his advice on how to reach Colchis, the Argonauts render the harpies harmless by caging them. Scenes in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans (where Perseus fights and kills Medusa's guardian, a two-headed dog) take place in Paestum. In the 2007 video game Medal of Honor: Airborne, the second mission set during Operation Avalanche takes place in Paestum. See also Architecture of Ancient Greece Roman Catholic Diocese of Pesto List of ancient Greek temples List of Greco-Roman roofs List of archaeological sites sorted by country References Sources Ceserani, Giovanna, Italy's Lost Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology, 2012, Oxford University Press, , Google books Wilton-Ely, John, The Mind and Art of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1978, Thames & Hudson, London, Further reading Strabo, Geographica 6.1 External links Official website of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Paestum Information on Paestum given by the website of the archaeological superintendece Information