Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/264

 248 MAGXA GRAECIA. as Caulonia on tlie E. coast, but considerably more to the S. Locri, also, had established two colonies on the W. coast, Hipponium and Medjia ; neither of which, however, attained to any great importance. Several other places which at a later period assumed more or less of a Greek character, were probably only Oenotrian towns, which had become gradually Hellenised, but without ever receiving Greek colonics. Such were Pandosia, Petelia, Temesa, and pro- bably ScYLi.ETiuM also, though this is frequently called an Athenian colony. We have very little information as to the early history of these Greek cities in Italy. All accounts agree in representing them as rising rapidly to a high state of prosperity, and attaining to an amount of wealth and power which far exceeded that enjoyed, at so early a period by any of the cities of the mother country. The Achaean colonies, Sybaris, Crotona, and Metapontum, seem to have been the first to attain to this flourishing condition ; and Sybaris especially became proverbial for its wealth and the luxurious habits of its citizens. [Sybaris.] There can be no doubt that the extraordinary fertility of the district in which these colonies were founded was the primary cause of their prosperity ; but they appear, also, to have carried on an extensive foreign commerce ; and as they increased in power they sought to extend their territorial possessions, so that ■we are told that Sybaris, in the days of its greatness, ruled over twenty-five dependent cities, and four nations or tribes of the neighbouring Oenotrians. (Strab. vi. p. 263.) It is remarkable how little we hear of any wars with the barbarians of the interior, or of any check to the progress of the Greek cities arising from tliis cause ; and it seems probable, not only that the Pelasgic origin of these tribes [Oe- hotria] caused them to assimilate with compa- rative facility with the Hellenic settler.s, but that many of them were admitted to the full rights of citizens, and amalgamated into one body with the foreign colonists. This we know to have been the case with Locri in particular (Pol. xii. .5); and there can be little doubt that the same thing took place more or less extensively in all the other cities. (Diod. xii. 9.) It is, indeed, impossible, on any other supposition, to exj>'.ain the rapidity with which these rose to an amount of wealth and population at that time unexampled in the Hellenic world. It seems certain that the period of about two cen- turies, which elapsed from the first settlement of the Greek colonies till after the fill of Sybaris (b.c. 710 — 510), was that during which these cities rose to the height of their power ; and probably the half century preceding the latter event (p.. c. 560 — 510) may be taken as the culminating point in the pro- sperity of the Achaean cities (Grote, vol. iii. p. 522.) Unfortunately, it is precisely for this period that we are the most absolutely deficient in historical in- formation. The loss of the early books of Diodorus is especially to be regretted, as they would undoubt- edly have preserved to us many interesting notices Concerning the early fortunes of the Greek cities, and at the same time have afforded us a clue to the chronological arrangement of the few scattered facts that have been preserved to us. The want of this renders it impossible to connect the extant notices into anything like a historical narrative. Among tlie earliest of these may probably he placed the league of the three great Achaean cities, Crotona, Sybaris, and Jletapontnm, for the expulsion of the lonians from their colony of Siris, — an union MAGNA GRAECIA. which appears to have led to the capture, and per- haps the destruction, of that city. (Justin, xx. 2.) But the date of this event is almost wholly un- certain [Siris], and scarcely less so is that of the much more celebrated battle of the Sagras, which Justin connects with the fall of Siris; while other authors would bring it down to a much later period. [Sagras.] According to all accounts, that famous battle, in which it is said that 120,000 Crotoniats were defeated by 10,000, or at most 15,000, of the Locrians and Ehegians, inflicted for a time a severe blow upon the prosperity of Crotona : but Strabc is certainly in error in representing that city as never recovering from its effects. [Crotona.] Justin, on the contrary, describes the period of depression con- sequent on this disaster as continuing only till the time of Pythagoras (xx. 4); and it is certain that in the days of that philosopher, Crotona, as well as the neighbouring Achaean cities, appears in a state of great prosperity. It was about the year B.C. 530 that the arrival of Pythagoras at Crotona gave rise to a marked change in the cities of Magna Graecia. The extra- ordinary influence which he speedily acquired, was not confined to that city, but extended to Sybaris and Metapontum also, as well as to Rhegium and Ta)-entuin. And it was so far from being limited to the proper sphere of philosophy, that it led to the introduction of great political changes, and for a time threw the chief ascendency in the state into the hands of the Pythagoreans. [Crotona.] Their power was ultimately overthrown by a violent revo- lution, which led to the expulsion of Pythagoras himself and his followers from Crotona ; and this seems to have been followed by similar disturbances in the other cities. We are very imperfectly in- formed as to the circumstances of these revolutions, but it seems certain that they gave rise to a period of disorder and confusion throughout the cities of JIagna Graecia from which the latter did not fully recover for a considerable period. (Pol. ii. 39 ; Justin, XX. 4 ; Iambi. Vit. Pyth. 258—264; Porphyr. F. P. 54—58.) It was apparently before the expulsion of the Pythagoreans, and while their influence was still paramount at Crotona, that the final contest arose between that city and Sybaris, which ended in the total destruction of the latter, B.C. 510. On that occasion we are told that the Crotoniats brought into the field 100,000 men, and the Sybarites not less than 300,000; and though these numbers can- not be received as historically accurate, they suffici- ently prove the opinion entertained of the opulence and power of the rival cities. The decisive victory of the Crotoniats on the banks of the river Traeis was followed by the capture and total destruction of Sybaris, — an event which seems to have produced a profound sensation in the Hellenic world (Herod, vi. 21), and must have caused a great change in the political relations of Magna Graecia. Unfortunately, we have no means of tracing these ; we know only that a part of the surviving Sybarites took refuge in the colonial cities of Laiis aud Scidrus, while another portion settled themselves on the banks of the Traeis, where they maintained themselves for a considerable period. (Herod. /. c. ; Strab. vi. pp. 263, 264.) The civil dissensions arising from the expulsion of the Pythagoreans may perhaps have been the cause of the remarkable circumstance (which we are other- wise at a loss to account for), that none of the states of Magna Graecia sent assistance to the Greeks at the