Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/265

 MAGNA GRAECIA. time of the Persian invasion. It is still more remark- able, that even when the Athenians and Lacedaemo- nians sent an embassy to Sicily to invoke the assist- ance of Gelon, we do not hear of any similar appli- cation to the Greek cities in Southern Italy. While the Achaean cities were thus declining from their former prosperity, Ehegium, the name of which is scarcely mentioned in history at an earlier period, w;is raised to a position of considerable power and importance under the rule of the despot Anaxilas (ii.c. 496 — 476), who united under his authority the city of Messana also, on the opposite side of the straits, and thus became involved in connection with the politics of Sicily, which had been hitherto very distinct from those of Magna Graecia. Micythus, the successor of Anaxilas in the government of Ehegium, was remarkable as the founder of the colony of Pyxus (afterwards called Buxentum), on the Tyr- rhenian sea, in b. c. 471. (Diod. xi. 59.) This was the latest of the Greek settlements in that quarter. About the same time (b.c. 473) we find mention of a disastrous defeat, which must, for a time, have given a severe check to the rising power of the Tarentines. That people appear to have taken little part in the disputes or contests of their Achaean neighbours ; but after their ineffectual attempt to op- pose the founding of Metapontum f Metapontum], would seem to have been principally engaged in extending their commerce, and in wars with the neighbouring barbarians. Here they found, among the lapygians or Messapians, a more formidable opposition than was encountered by the other Greek cities. After repeated contests, in many of which they had come off victorious and reduced many of the lapygian towns, the Tarentines were defeated in a great battle by the lapygians, with such heavy loss that Herodotus tells us it was the greatest slaughter of Greek citizens that had happened within his knowledge. Three thousand Rhegian auxiliaries, who had been sent to the support of the Tarentines, perished on the same occasion. (Herod, vii. 170; Di(jd. xi. 52.) The period between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars witnessed the establishment of the two latest of the Greek colonies in Southern Italy — Thurii and Hemaclea. Both of these were, however, but a kind of renewal of previously existing settlements. Thurii was founded in b. c. 443, by a body of colonists, of whom the Athenians seem to have taken the lead, but which was composed, in great part, of settlers from other states of Greece [Thurii] ; with whom were united the remaining citizens of Sybaris, and the new colony was established within two miles of the site of that city. The new settlement rose rapidly to prosperity, but was soon engaged in war with the Tarentines for the possession of the vacant district of Siris ; until these hostilities were at length terminated by a compromise, according to which the two rival cities joined in establishing a new colony, three miles from the site of the ancient Siris, to which they gave the name of Heraclea, B. c. 432. (Strab. vi. p. 264 ; Diod. xii. 23, 36.) But though thus founded by common consent, the Tarentines seem to have had much the largest share in its establishment, and Heraclea was always con- sidered as a colony of Tarentum. During the Peloponnesian War the cities of Magna Graecia seem to have studiously kept aloof from the contest. Even when the Athenian expedition to Sicily (B.C. 415) involved the whole of the Greek ciiios in that island in the war, those on the coasts of MAGNA GRAECIA. 2t9 Italy still endeavoured to preserve their neutrality, and refused to admit the Athenian furces within the n- walls, though they did not offer any obstruction to their progress. (Thuc. vi. 44; Diod. xiii. 3.) At a later period, however, the Thurians (among whom there was naturally an Athenian party) and the Metapontines were induced to enter into a regular alliance with Athens, and supplied a small force to their assistance. (Thuc. vii. 33, 35 ; Diod. xiii. At this period the cities of Magna Graecia seem to have been still in a prosperous and flourishing condition; but it was not long after that they began to feel the combined operation of two causes which mainly contributed to their decline. The first danger which threatened them was from the south, where Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, after having established his power over the greater part of Sicily, began to seek to extend it in Italy also. Hitherto the cities of Italy had kept aloof in great measure from the revolutions and wars of the neighbouring island : Rhegium and Locri alone seem to have maintained closer relations with the Sicilian Greeks. The former, from its Chalcidic origin, was naturally friendly to the colonies of the same race in Sicily; and when Dionysius turned his arms against the Chalcidic cities, Naxos, Catana, and Leontini, he at once brought on himself the enmity of the Rhegians. Hence, when he soon after applied to conclude a matrimonial alliance with them, the proposal was indignantly rejected. The Locrians, on the other hand, readily accepted his offer, and thus secured the powerful assistance of the despot in his subse- quent wars. (Diod. xiv. 44, 107.) From this time his efforts were mainly directed to the humiliation of Rhegium and the aggrandisement of the Locrians. His designs in this quarter soon excited so much alarm, that, in B. c. 393, the Italian Greeks were induced to conclude a general league for their mutual protection against the arms of Dionysius on the one side, as well as those of the Lucanians on the other. (Id. 91.) But the result was far front successful. The combined forces of the confede- rates were defeated by Dionysius in a great battle at the river Helleporus or Helorus, near Caulonia, B. c. 389 ; and this blow was followed by the cap- ture of Caulonia itself, as well as Hipponium, both of which places were reduced to a state of dependence on Locri. Not long after, the powerful city of Rhegium was compelled to surrender, alter a siege of nearly eleven months, b. c. 387. (Diod. xiv. 103—108, 111.) While the more southerly cities of Magna Graecia were suffering thus severely from the attacks of Dionysius, those on the northern frontier were menaced by a still more formidable danger. The Lucanians, a Sabellian race or branch of the Samnite stock, who had pressed foi-ward into the territory of the Oenotrians, and had gradually expelled or re- duced to subjection the tribes of that people who inhabited the mountain districts of the interior, next turned their arms against the Greek cities on the coast. Posidonia, the most northerly of these settlements, was the first which fell under their yoke (Strab. vi. p. 254); and though we cannot fix with accuracy the date of its conquest, it is probable that this took place some time before we find them engaged in wars with the cities on the Tarentine gulf. If, indeed, we can trust to the uncertain chronology of some of these events, they would seem to have been already engaged in hostilities with tho