Editing Locri (section)

==History==
{{Main|Epizephyrian Locris}}

'''Epizephyrian Locris''' or '''Locri Epizephyrii''' ({{Langx|grc|Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι|Lokroí Epizephúrioi}}; from the plural of {{Lang|grc|Λοκρός}} ({{Transliteration|grc|Lokros}}, "a Locrian"), {{Lang|grc|ἐπί}} ({{Transliteration|grc|epí}}, "on"), {{Lang|grc|Ζέφυρος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|Zéphuros}}, "[[Zephyrus|West Wind]]"), thus "the Western Locrians")<ref>It was common in classical times to name a city in the plural for the name of its inhabitants and/or its eponymous deity or founder, cp. αἱ Ἀθήναι, literally "The Athenas," i.e. "[[Athens]]." See also the [[List of traditional Greek place names]]</ref> was founded about 680 BC on the Italian shore of the [[Ionian Sea]], near modern Capo Zefirio, by the [[Locrians]], apparently by [[Opuntii]] (East Locrians) from the city of [[Opus, Greece|Opus]], but including [[Ozolae]] (West Locrians) and [[Lacedaemonians]]. Its Latin name, ''Locri'', is the plural of the Latin ''Locrus'', which was used both to mean an inhabitant of Locris and the [[Locrus|eponymous ancestor of the Locrians]]. [[Strabo]] suggests that the [[Ozolian Locris|Ozolian Locrians]] were the principal founders, while [[Ephorus]] held that the Locri was a colony of [[Opuntian Locris]].<ref name="StraboGeogVI">{{cite book|author=Strabo|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng2:6.1.7|title=Geography|date=1903|publisher=George Bell & Sons|location=London|translator1=H.C. Hamilton |translator2=William Falconer}}</ref>
[[Image:Locri Pinax Of Persephone And Hades.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pinax]] from Locris: Persephone and Hades sitting on the throne]]
Due to fierce winds at an original settlement, the settlers moved to the present site. After a century, a [[defensive wall]] was built. Outside the city there are several [[necropolis|necropoleis]], some of which are very large.

Its renowned lawgiver [[Zaleucus]] decreed that anyone who proposed a change in the laws should do so with a noose about their neck, with which they should be hanged if the amendment did not pass. [[Plato]] called it "The flower of Italy", due to the local peoples' characteristics. 

Locris was the site of two great sanctuaries, that of [[Persephone]] and of [[Aphrodite]].<ref>See the history of the [[Ludovisi Throne]], now thought to have come from Locris.</ref> Perhaps uniquely, Persephone was worshiped as protector of marriage and childbirth, a role usually assumed by [[Hera]], and [[Diodorus Siculus]] knew the temple there as the most illustrious in Italy.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.4000/kernos.2388 |doi-access=free |title = Life, Death, and a Lokrian Goddess|year = 2016|last1 = Eisenfeld|first1 = Hanne|journal = Kernos|issue = 29|pages = 41–72}}</ref>

In the early centuries Locris was allied with [[Sparta]], and later with [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]]. It founded two colonies of its own, [[Vibo Valentia|Hipponion]] and [[Medma]].

During the [[5th century BC]], votive [[Pinax| pinakes]] in terracotta were often dedicated as offerings to the goddess, made in series and painted with bright colors, animated by scenes connected to the myth of Persephone. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the [[Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia| National Museum of Magna Græcia]] in Reggio Calabria. Locrian pinakes represent one of the most significant categories of objects from Magna Graecia, both as documents of religious practice and as works of art.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7PP3wNr4zMC&q=cult+of+persephone+reggio+calabria&pg=PA201|title = Magna Graecia: Greek Art from South Italy and Sicily|isbn = 9780940717718|last1 = Bennett|first1 = Michael|last2 = Bennett|first2 = Michael J.|last3 = Paul|first3 = Aaron J. |publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art |year=2002}}</ref>
In the iconography of votive plaques at Locri, her abduction and marriage to [[Hades]] served as an emblem of the marital state, children at Locri were dedicated to Persephone, and maidens about to be wed brought their [[peplos]] to be blessed.

During the Pyrrhic Wars (280-275 BC) fought between [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] and [[Rome]], Locris accepted a Roman garrison and fought against the Epirote king. However, the city changed sides numerous times during the war. Bronze tablets from the treasury of its Olympeum, a temple to [[Zeus]], record payments to a 'king', generally thought to be Pyrrhus. Despite this, Pyrrhus plundered the temple of Persephone at Locris before his return to Epirus, an event which would live on in the memory of the Greeks of Italy. At the end of the war, perhaps to allay fears about its loyalty, Locris minted coins depicting a seated Rome being crowned by 'Pistis', a goddess personifying good faith and loyalty, and returned to the Roman fold.

The city was abandoned in the [[5th century AD]]. The town was finally destroyed by the [[Saracens]] in 915. The survivors fled inland about {{convert|10|km|mi|0}} to the town [[Gerace]] on the slopes of the [[Aspromonte]].