Thesaurus

Refers to a group of ancient Greek seaport colonies along the coast of southern Italy, which grew as part of the Greek expansion of the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. The chief cities were Tarentum (Taranto), Sybaris (Sibari), Crotona (Crotone), Heraclea, Cumae, Elea, and Neapolis (Naples).The people of this region were known to the Greeks as "Italiotai" and to the Romans as "Graeci." The cities were important centers of trade and commerce, and the colonies developed the famous Pythagorean and Eleatic systems of philosophy. Euboeans founded the first colonies, Pithecussae and Cumae, about 750 BC, and subsequently Spartans settled at Tarentum. Achaeans settled at Metapontum, Sybaris, and Croton, and Locrians colonized Locri Epizephyrii. The Chalcidians at settled at Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria). Several later Greek cities in Italy were descendants of these colonies. After the 5th century BCE, malaria, attacks by the neighboring Italic Lucanians and Bruttians, and interurban strife caused most of the cities to decline in importance.