Editing Basilicata (section)

===Ancient history===
[[File:Lucania da The Historical Atlas, by William R. Shepherd, 1911.png|thumb|left|The ancient region of [[Lucania]]]]
In ancient historical times, the region was originally known as [[Lucania]], named for the [[Lucanians|Lucani]], an [[Oscan language|Oscan-speaking]] population from [[central Italy]].

Starting from the late eighth century BC, the Greeks established a settlement first at [[Siris (Magna Graecia)|Siris]], founded by fugitives from [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]]. Then with the foundation of [[Metaponto]] from [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaean]] colonists, they started the conquest of the whole Ionian coast. There were also indigenous [[Oenotrians|Oenotrian]] foundations on the coast, which exploited the nearby presence of Greek settlements, such as [[Velia]] and [[Policastro Bussentino|Pyxous]], for their maritime trades. The region became one of the centers of [[Magna Graecia]], with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states ([[Polis|póleis]]).

The first contacts between the Lucanians and the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] date from the latter half of the fourth century BC. After the conquest of [[Taranto]] in 272, Roman rule was extended to the whole region: the [[Appian Way]] reached [[Brindisi]] and the colonies of Potentia (modern [[Potenza]]) and [[Grumentum]] were founded.