Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/393

 SYBARIS AND KROTON. 37? gration seems to have been connected with the previous expulsion of the Achaean population from the more southerly region o" Peloponnesus by the Dorians, though in what precise manner we are not enabled to see : the Achaean towns in Peloponnesus ap- pear in later times too inconsiderable to furnish emigrants, but probably in the eighth century B. c. their population may have been larger. The town of Sybaris was planted between two rivers, the Sybaris and the Krathis, 1 the name of the latter bor- rowed from a river of Achaia, the town of Kroton about twenty- five miles distant, on the river .ZEsarus. The primitive settlers of Sybaris consisted in part of Troezenians, who were, however, subsequently expelled by the more numerous Achaeans, a deed of violence which was construed by the religious sentiment of Antiochus and some other Grecian historians, as having drawn down upon them the anger of the gods in the ultimate de- struction of the city by the Krotoniates.- The fatal contest between these two cities, which ended in the ruin of Sybaris, took place in 510 B. c., after the latter had sub- sisted in her prosperity for two hundred and ten years. And the astonishing prosperity to which both of them attained is a sufficient proof that during the most of this period they had remained in peace at least, if not in alliance and common Achaean brotherhood. Unfortunately, the general fact of their great size, wealth, and power, is all that we are permitted to know. The walls of Syb- aris embraced a circuit of fifty stadia, or more than six miles, while those of Kroton were even larger, and comprised not less than twelve miles : 3 a large walled circuit was advantageous for sheltering the movable property in the territory around, which was carried in on the arrival of an invading enemy. Both cities however, there are no means of rectifying it : Kramer prints, otKiaTt/f 6s avrfif 6 'Iff... .'E3.iKEV: thus making 'E/U/cedf the ethnicon of the Achaean town Heliko. There were also legends which connected the foundation of Kroton with Herakles, who was affirmed to have been hospitably sheltered by the eponymous hero Kroton. Herakles was O'IKEIOS at Kroton : see Ovid. Mctamorph. xv, 1-60; Jamblichus, Vit. Pythagor. c. 8, p. 30, c. 9, p. 37, ed Raster. 1 Herodot. i, 145. Aristot. Polit. v, 2, 15 3 Strabo, vi, p. 262 ; Livy, xxiv, 3.