Editing Reggio Calabria (section)

===Ancient times===
The history of the area before the arrival of the Greeks in the eighth century BC is not reliably known. Mythical accounts record a series of different peoples in the region, including the [[Osci]] (sometimes referred to as ''Opici''), [[Troy|Trojans]], [[Oenotrians]], [[Ligures]], [[Ausones]], [[Mamertines]], Taureani, [[Sicels]], [[Morgetes]] and [[Ancient peoples of Italy|Itali]].<ref name="books.google.it">Domenico Spanò Bolani, ''Storia di Reggio – da' tempi primitivi sino all'anno 1797'' • Stamperia e Cartiere del Fibreno, Naples, 1857 [https://books.google.com/books?id=H6IBAAAAQAAJ]</ref> They also claim that the land around Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia. The term 'Italia' initially referred to the area around Reggio itself, before expanding to cover present-day southern Calabria (later known as [[Bruttium]]), and finally becoming the name of the whole Italian peninsula around the third century BC.<ref name="books.google.it"/> Allegedly, the name derives from king [[Italus]], an Oenotrian king of the region.<ref>''Lessico Universale Italiano'' XI, "Italo", Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Roma, 1973.<!-- ISBN/ISSN needed --></ref>

After [[Cumae]], Reggio was one of the first Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of [[Chalcis]] in 730 or 743 BC<ref name="books.google.it"/> on the site of the older settlement, Erythra ({{Lang|grc|Ερυθρά}}), meaning 'red'. The legendary founder of the city was King Iocastus, son of [[Aeolus]], who was later said to be buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory (called "Pallantion") and appeared on the city's coinage. The colony retained the name of "Rhegion" ({{Lang|grc|Ῥήγιον}}).<ref name="books.google.it"/> [[Pseudo-Scylax]] also writes that it was a Greek city.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/graeca/Chronologia/S_ante06/Skylax/sky_p001.html| title = Pseudo Scylax, Periplous, §12}}</ref>

Rhegion was one of the most important cities in [[Magna Graecia]], reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BC under [[Anaxilas]], who reigned as tyrant from 494 to 476 BC. Anaxilas conquered [[Zancle]] (modern [[Messina]]), extending Rhegian control over both shores of the Straits of Messina. He attempted to conquer [[Locri]] as well in 477 BC but was rebuffed. When he died in 476 BC, his two sons were too young to rule, so power was held by their regent [[Micythus]]. Under his rule, Rhegion founded a colony, Pyxous (modern [[Policastro Bussentino]]) in [[Campania]] in 471 BC.<ref>[[Herodotus]] 7.170; [[Diodorus Siculus]] 11.52, 11.59.14.</ref> [[Hieron I of Syracuse]] orchestrated Micythus' removal from power in 467 BC,<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] 11.66.1-3</ref> after which Anaxilas' sons ruled on their own until they were deposed in 461 BC.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] 11.76.5; [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] 4.3.1-3</ref> During the [[Peloponnesian War]], Rhegion allied with [[Athens]]. An Athenian inscription (''[[Inscriptiones Graecae|IG]]'' I<sup>3</sup> 53) reports a renewal of this alliance in 433 BC.<ref>[https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/IGI3/53 Translation and commentary] on ''Attic Inscriptions Online''.</ref> The Athenians supported Rhegion in a war with Locri during the First Sicilian Expedition (427–425 BC).<ref>[[Thucydides]] 4.1.1-3</ref> However, when the Athenians launched the much larger [[Sicilian Expedition]] of 415–413 BC, Rhegion offered them only limited assistance.

During the [[Third Sicilian War]], Rhegion became hostile to [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]]. He attacked the city for the first time in 396 BC, but he was rebuffed. Dionysius destroyed the Rhegian navy in 389 BC, besieged the city again in 388 BC and, when it finally fell in 387 BC, destroyed it.<ref>[[Polybius]] 1.6.1, Diodorus Siculus 14.56.1-2, 108-111, 114-117</ref> His son, [[Dionysius II of Syracuse|Dionysius II]] refounded the city as 'Phoebeia' in the 360s BC. When he was expelled from Syracuse in 356 BC, he retained control of Phoebeia, but it was captured by Syracusan forces led by [[Leptines II|Leptines]] and [[Callippus of Syracuse|Callippus]] in 351 BC.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] 16.45.9</ref> Rhegion then reverted to its original name.<ref name="books.google.it"/>

Throughout classical antiquity Rhegion remained an important maritime and commercial city as well as a cultural centre, as is demonstrated by the presence of academies of art, philosophy, and science, such as the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] School, and also by its well-known poet [[Ibycus]], the historian [[:it:Ippi di Reggio|Ippys]], the musicologist Glaucus, and the sculptors [[Pythagoras of Rhegium|Pythagoras]] and [[Clearchus of Rhegium|Clearchus]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Rhegion made an alliance with the [[Roman Republic]] in 282 BC, shortly before the [[Pyrrhic War]]. The {{ill|Legio Campana|de}}, under the command of Decius Vibellus, was installed as a garrison but subsequently launched a violent coup and seized control of the city.<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] 20.4. cf. [[Polybius]] 1.7.6-7, [[Diodorus Siculus]] 22.1.2-3</ref> Roman forces deposed Decius and restored the city's independence in 271 BC. Thereafter, Rhegium was an important ally of Rome, with the status of {{Lang|la|[[municipium]]}} and ''socia navalis'' (naval ally). It retained its Greek customs and language, as well as its [[mint (coin)|mint]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It was a central pivot for both maritime and mainland traffic, reached by the final part of the [[Via Popilia]], which was built in the 2nd century BC and joined the older [[Via Appia]] at [[Capua]], south of Rome. Close to Rhegion, on the Straits of Messina, was the busy port of Columna Rhegina. Under the Emperor [[Augustus]], the city was renamed Rhegium Juli in honour of the emperor's adoptive father [[Julius Caesar]] and was the seat of the {{Lang|la|[[corrector|corrēctor]]}} (governor) of "Regio III Lucania et Bruttii" (the southernmost of the eleven [[Roman Italy#Augustan organization|regiones]] into which Italy was divided). In AD 61 the apostle [[St. Paul]] passed through Rhegium on his final voyage towards Rome,<ref>[[Book of Acts|Acts]] 28.13</ref> converting the first local Christians and, according to tradition, laying the foundations of the Christianization of Bruttium.

Rhegium boasted in imperial times nine thermal baths,<ref>De Gregorio, Lucia. "Le Terme Romane di Reggio Calabria. La ricerca archeologica tra il 1881 e il 1924", ''Calabria Sconosciuta'' n. 139/140– Azienda Grafica Biroccio, Reggio di Calabria (July–December 2013).</ref> one of which is still visible today on the sea-front. Due to its seismic activity, the area was often damaged by earthquakes, such as in 91 BC, AD 17, 305 and 374.<ref>AAVV "Reggio di Calabria" in "L'Italia - Basilicata e Calabria", Touring Club Italiano, La Repubblica, Pioltello, 2005</ref>