Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1120

 IU96 TARENTUM. loss that Herodotus, without stating the numbers, says it v;is the greatest slaughter of Greeks that had occurred up to his time. The loss seems to have fallen especially upon the nobles and wealtliier citizens, so that it became the occasion of a pcditical revolution, and the government, ■which had pre- viously been an aristocracy, became thencefortli a pure democracy. (Arist. Pol. v. 3.) Of the in- ternal condition and constitution of Tarentum pre- viously to this time, we know scarcely anything, but it seems probable that its institutions were at first copied from those of the parent city of Sparta. Aristotle speaks of its government as a TroAi'reia, in the sense of a mixed government or commonwealth; while Herodotus incidentally notices a king of Ta- rentum (iii. ISO), not long before the Persian War, who was doubtless a king after the Spartan model. The institutions of a democratic tendency noticed with commendation by Aristotle {Pol. vi. 5) pro- bably belong to the later and democratic period of the constitution. We hear but little also of Tarentum in connection with the revolutions arising out of the influence exercised by the Pythagoreans : that sect had apparently not established itself so strongly there as in the Achaean cities; though many Taren- tines are enumerated among the disciples of Pytha- goras, and it is clear that the city had not altogether escaped tlieir influence. (Iambi. Vit. Pyth. 262, 266; Porpiiyr. Vit. Pyth. 56.) The defeat of the Tarentines by the Messapians, which is referred by Diodorus to b. c. 473 (Diod. xi. 52), is the first event in the history of Tarentum to which we can assign a definite date. Great as that blow may liave been, it did not produce any permanent effect in checking the progress of the city, which still appears as one of the most flourish- ing in Magna Graecia. We next hear of the Ta- rentines as interfering to prevent the Tliurians, who had been recently established in Italy, from making themselves masters of the district of the Siritis. On what grounds the Tarentines could lay claim to this district, vi-hich was separated from them by the intervening territory of Metapontum, we are not in- formed; but they carried ou war for some tiine against the Tliurians, who were supported by the Spartan exile Cleandridas; until at length the dis- pute was terminated by a compromise, and a new colony named Heracleia was founded in the con- tested territory (b. c. 432), in which the citizens of both states participated, but it was agreed that it should be considered as a colony of Tarentum. (Antioch. ap. Strah. vi. p. 264; Diod. xii. 23, 36.) At the time of the Athenian expedition to Sicily, the Tarentines kept aloof from the contest, and contented themselves with refusing all supplies and assistance to the Athenian fleet (Thuc. vi. 44), while they afforded shelter to the Corinthian and Laconian ships under Gylippus (76. 104), but they did not even prevent the second fleet under Demosthenes and Eurymedon from touch- ing at the islands of the Choerades, immediately opposite to the entrance of their harbour, and taking on board some auxiliaries furnished by the Messa- pians. (Id. vii. 33.) Another long interval now elapses, during which the history of Tarentum is to us almost a blank ; yet tlie few notices we hear of the city represent it as in a state of great prosperity. We are told that at one time (apparently about 380 — 360 B.C.) Archytas, the Pythagorean philosopher, exercised a paramount influence over the government, and filled TARENTUM. the office of Strategus or general no less than seven times, though it was prohibited by law to hold it more than once ; and was successful in every cam- paign. (Diog. Laert. viii. 4. §§ 79—82.) It is evident, therefore, that the Tarentines were far from enjoying unbroken peace. The hostilities alluded to were probably but a renewal of tlieir old warfare with the Messapians ; but the security of the Greek cities in Italy was now menaced by two more for- midable foes, Dionysius of Syracuse in the south, and the Lucanians on the north and west. The Tarentines, indeed, seem to have at first looked upon both dangers with comparative indifference : their remote position secured them from the immediate brunt of the attack, and it is even doubtful whether they at first joined in the general league of the Greek cities to resist the danger which threatened them. Meanwhile, the calamities which befel the more southern cities, the destruction of some by Diony- sius, and the humiliation of others, tended only to raise Tarentum in comparison, wliile that city itself enjoyed an immunity from all liostile attacks ; and it seems certain that it was at this period that Ta- rentum first rose to the preponderating position among the Greek cities in Italy, which it thence- forth enjoyed without a rival. It was apparently as an acknowledgment of that superiority, that when Tarentum had joined the confederacy of the Greek cities, the place of meeting of their congress was fixed at the Tarentine colony of Heracleia, (Strab. vi. p. 280.) It was impossible for the Tarentines any longer to keep aloof from the contest with the Lucanians, whose formidable power was now beginning to threaten all the cities in JIagna Graecia ; and they now appear as taking a leading part in opposing the progress of those barbarians. But they were not content with their own resources, and called in suc- cessively to their assistance several foreign leaders and generals of renown. The first of these was the Spartan king Archidamus, who crossed over into Italy with a considerable force. Of his operations there we have no account, but he appears to have carried on the war for some years, as Diodorus places his first landing in Italy in b, c. 346, while the battle in which he was defeated and slain was not fought till the same time as that of Chaeroneia, B. c. 338. (Diod, xvi. 63, 88.) This action, in which Archidamus himself, and almost all the troops which he had brought with him from Greece perished, was fought (as vve are told), not with the Lucaniajis, but with the Messapians, in the neigh- bourhood of Jlanduria, only 24 miles from Tarentum (Pint. Agis. 3 ; Pans. iii. 10. § 5; Diod. I. c); but there can be no doubt, however, that both nations were united, and that the Lucanians lent their sup- port to the Messapians, as the old enemies of Taren- tum, Henceforth, indeed, we find both names continually united, A few years after the death of Archidamus, Alexander, king of Epirus, was invited by the Tarentines, and landed in Italy, b. c. 332. The operations of his successive campaigns, which were continued till b. c. 326, are very imperfectly known to us, but he appears to have first turned his arms against the Messapians, and compelled them to conclude a peace with the Tarentines, before he proceeded to make war upon the Lucanians and Bruttians. But his arms were attended with con- siderable success in this quarter also: he defeated the Samnites and Lucanians in a great battle near Paestum, and j^enetrated into the heart of the Brut- I