Editing Calabria (section)

===Antiquity===
{{Further|Greek colonisation|Bruttii}}{{Quote|text=[...] as after the death of Oenotrius, Oenotria had another name, and was called Italy, and Morgetia, and after this name it was called Sicily, Chonia, Iapigia, and Salentia, and afterwards cogionta in a name it was called Magna Graecia.|author=Girolamo Marafioti|title=Croniche, et antichita di Calabria<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marafioti |first=Girolamo |url=https://books.google.it/books?id=LlawjHUbv9UC&printsec=frontcover&hl=it |title=Chroniche et Antichità Di Calabria |date=1601 |language=it}}</ref>}}

According to the Greeks, the region would have been inhabited before colonization by several communities, including the Ausones-Oenotrians (vine-growers), who were the Italians, Morgetes, Sicels, and Chone. It is said that it was from the mythical ruler [[Italus]] that Calabria was called “Italy”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, I'talus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=italus-bio-1 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> The figure of Italus is placed in the first half of the 15th century BC. [[Antiochus of Syracuse]], considered the first historian of the West, depicts him as “A good and wise king, capable of subduing neighboring peoples making use of persuasion and force from time to time”.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Guerrisi |first=Vincenzo |title=Monografia da Altanum a Polistena, territorio degli Itali-Morgeti |publisher=BookSprint Edizioni |year=2021 |isbn=9788824953078 |language=it |trans-title=Monograph from Altanum to Polistena, territory of the Italians-Morgetes}}</ref>[[File:Greek City-states of Calabria 6th c. BC.png|thumb|Greek City-states (underlined) of Calabria 6th {{circa}} BC]]
[[File:Magna Grecia 280aC.jpg|thumb|[[Magna Grecia]] around 280&nbsp;BC]]

Around 1500&nbsp;BC a tribe called the [[Oenotrians|Oenotri]] ("vine-cultivators"), settled in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bianco |first1=Salvatore |last2=Preite |first2=Addolorata |title=Identificazione degli Enotri |journal=Mélanges de l'École française de Rome - Antiquité |date=18 December 2014 |issue=126–2 |doi=10.4000/mefra.2438 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/mefra/2438?lang=en |access-date=19 November 2023 |archive-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119161116/https://journals.openedition.org/mefra/2438?lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref>  Ancient sources state they were [[Greeks]] who were led to the region by their king, [[Oenotrus]]. However it is believed they were an ancient Italic people who spoke an Italic language.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sciarretta|first1=Antonio|title=Toponomastica d'Italia. Nomi di luoghi, storie di popoli antichi|date=2010|publisher=Mursia|location=Milano|isbn=978-88-425-4017-5|pages=174–194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lazzarini |first1=Letizia |last2=Poccetti |first2=Paolo |date=2001 |title=Il mondo enotrio tra VI e V secolo a. C. L'iscrizione paleoitalica da Tortora |url= |location= |publisher=Loffredo Editore |isbn=9788880968825}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mollo |first=Fabrizio |date=2001 |title=Archeologia per Tortora: frammenti dal passato |location=Potenza |publisher=Societa Tipografica Ed.}}</ref>
During the eighth and seventh centuries BC, Greek settlers founded many colonies (settlements) on the coast of southern Italy. In Calabria they founded Chone ([[Pallagorio]]), Cosentia ([[Cosenza]]), Clampetia ([[Amantea]]), [[Scyllaeum]] ([[Scilla]]), [[Sybaris]] ([[Sibari]]), [[Hipponion]] ([[Vibo Valentia]]), [[Epizephyrian Locris]] ([[Locri]]), [[Kaulon]] ([[Monasterace]]), [[Krimisa]] ([[Cirò Marina]]), [[Crotone|Kroton]] ([[Crotone]]), [[Laüs]] (''comune'' of [[Santa Maria del Cedro]]), [[Medma]] ([[Rosarno]]), [[Metauros]] ([[Gioia Tauro]]), [[Petelia]] ([[Strongoli]]), [[Rhegion|Rhégion]] ([[Reggio Calabria]]), [[Scylletium]] ([[Borgia, Calabria|Borgia]]), [[Temesa (ancient city)|Temesa]] ([[Campora San Giovanni]]), [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] ([[Nocera Terinese]]), [[Pandosia (Bruttium)|Pandosia]] ([[Acri]]) and [[Thurii]], (Thurio, ''comune'' of [[Corigliano Calabro]]).

In the year 744 B.C. a group of [[Chalcidians|Chalcidian]] settlers founded the city of Rhegion (today Reggio Calabria) at the southern end of the Calabrian peninsula. Soon after, again the Chalcidans founded [[Zancle]] (current Messina) on the other side of the strait, securing their dominion over that arm of the sea. Later Chalcidian settlers from Rhegion and Zancle would found [[Metauros]] (Gioia Tauro), divided the [[Metauro|river of the same name]] (today [[Petrace]]) from the Italic city of the Tauri.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

In 710 B.C. Ionian colonists founded [[Sybaris]] on the fertile plain of the same name at the mouth of the [[Crati]]. From this colony would later originate the founding of [[Paestum]] (in [[Lucania]]), [[Laas, South Tyrol|Lao]] (at the mouth of the [[Lao (Italian river)|river of the same name]]) and Scidros (between [[Cetraro]] and [[Belvedere Marittimo]]). Ionian colonies were {{ILL|Clampetia|it}} (in the area between [[Amantea]] and [[San Lucido]]), [[Temesa (ancient city)|Temesa]] (between Amantea and [[Nocera Terinese]]), [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] (in the plain of [[Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte|Sant'Eufemia]]), [[Krimisa]] ([[Cirò Marina]]), Petelia ([[Strongoli]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

In 743 B.C. [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaean]] settlers instead founded Kroton (current [[Crotone]]), on the point now known as [[Capo Colonna]]. Crotonians and Sybarites would later become rivals. But meanwhile, the Crotonians founded the colonies of [[Caulonia (ancient city)|Caulonia]] (near today's [[Monasterace]] Marina) and Scillezio ([[Squillace]]). Around 700 B.C. Crotonian colonists founded Bristacia, current [[Umbriatico]].<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

Around 680 B.C. colonists who came from the Greek [[Locris]] founded [[Epizephyrian Locris]], near present-day [[Locri]]. Colonies of the Locrians were Hipponion ([[Vibo Valentia]]) and [[Medma]] ([[Rosarno]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

The Bruttians, similar to the neighboring Lucanians, declared themselves independent of their “cousins” from beyond the [[Pollino]] around the 4th century B.C., forming themselves into a confederate state. The capital of the federates was Consentia, present-day Cosenza. It was one of the main cities along with Pandosia, a city whose traces have been lost; some historical references locate it among the municipalities of [[Castrolibero]], [[Marano Principato]], and [[Marano Marchesato]], while other recent archaeological discoveries would locate the city near the present city of Acri, Aufugum ([[Montalto Uffugo]]), Argentanum ([[San Marco Argentano]]), Bergae, Besidiae ([[Bisignano]]), and Lymphaeum ([[Luzzi, Italy|Luzzi]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

Between 560 and 550 B.C. a decade-long war was fought between Kroton and Epizephyrian Locris, which was resolved by the [[Battle of the Sagra|battle on the Sagra River]], which saw the alliance between the people of Reggio and Locri emerge victorious.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

In 510 B.C. the Crotonians attacked nearby Sybaris, and faced the Sybarites on the River [[Trionto]], in a clash between 100,000 Crotonians and 300,000 Sybarites. The Dorians won the battle and occupied Sybaris by sacking it for 70 days and diverting the waters of the Crati River onto the ruins of the city.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

In 444 B.C. Athenian and Peloponnesian colonists founded, on the site of the destroyed Sybaris, the colony of [[Turi, Apulia|Turi]], at the behest of [[Pericles]] in the détente plan related to the [[Thirty Years' Peace]] in the [[Peloponnesian War]].<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

In 338 BC. Locri asked [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius of Syracuse]] for help against the expansion of Reggio (no longer allied with the Locrians) and Croton. The Syracusans intervened in the Calabrian peninsula by defeating the Crotonians on the narrowest point of the river Sagra, current [[Allaro]], and occupying Croton for ten years, an event that put an end to the power of the Crotonians; similar fate befell Reggio, which although having resisted the numerous attacks of Dionysius of Syracuse, in 386 BC after eleven months of siege was taken by the Syracusans, and for some years also weakened in its political power.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

Rhegion was the birthplace of one of the famed [[nine lyric poets]], [[Ibycus]] and Metauros was the birthplace of another, [[Stesichorus]], who was amongst the first lyric poets of the western world. Kroton spawned many victors during the ancient Olympics and other Panhellenic Games. Amongst the most famous were [[Milo of Croton]], who won six wrestling events in six Olympics in a row, along with seven events in the Pythian Games, nine events in the Nemean Games and ten events in the Isthmian Games and also [[Astylos of Croton]], who won six running events in three Olympics in a row.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympic.org/content/olympic-games/ancient-olympic-games/the-athlete/ |title=Olympic Games – Winter Summer Past and Future Olympics |date=20 December 2018 |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=27 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427125306/http://www.olympic.org/content/olympic-games/ancient-olympic-games/the-athlete/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Through [[Alcmaeon of Croton]] (a philosopher and medical theorist) and [[Pythagoras]] (a mathematician and philosopher), who moved to Kroton in 530 BC, the city became a renowned center of philosophy, science and medicine. The Greeks of [[Sybaris]] created "Intellectual Property."<ref name="stanford">{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intellectual-property |title=Intellectual Property (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |publisher=plato.stanford.edu |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=11 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211020840/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intellectual-property/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Sybaris|Sybarites]] founded at least 20 other colonies, including Poseidonia ([[Paestum]] in Latin, on the [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] coast of Lucania), [[Laüs]] (on the border with Lucania) and [[Scidrus]] (on the Lucanian coast in the [[Gulf of Taranto]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naplesldm.com/sybarite.html |title=Who were the Sybarites? |first=Jeff |last=Matthews |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306230314/http://www.naplesldm.com/sybarite.html |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Locri]] was renowned for being the town where [[Zaleucus]] created the first Western Greek law, the "Locrian Code"<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.amalficoast.com/l/calabria-3/reggio-calabria-and-aspromonte-31/locri-1802 |title=Locri |website=www.amalficoast.com |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702123302/https://www.amalficoast.com/l/calabria-3/reggio-calabria-and-aspromonte-31/locri-1802 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rfT9NQWku8C |title=Primitive Civilizations: Or, Outlines of the History of Ownership in Archaic Communities |first=Edith Jemima |last=Simcox |date=4 November 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-02184-5 |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227163859/https://books.google.com/books?id=_rfT9NQWku8C |url-status=live }}</ref> and the birthplace of ancient epigrammist and poet [[Nossis]].

The Greek cities of Calabria came under pressure from the [[Lucania]]ns who conquered the north of Calabria and pushed further south, taking over part of the interior, probably after they defeated the [[Thurii|Thurians]] near Laus in 390 BC. A few decades later the [[Bruttii]] took advantage of the weakening of the Greek cites caused by wars between them and took over Hipponium, [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] and Thurii. The Bruttii helped the Lucanians fight [[Alexander I of Epirus|Alexander of Epirus]] (334–32 BC), who had come to the aid of [[Taranto|Tarentum]] (in [[Apulia]]), which was also pressured by the Lucanians. After this, [[Agathocles of Syracuse]] ravaged the coast of Calabria with his fleet, took Hipponium and forced the Bruttii into unfavourable peace terms. However, they soon seized Hipponium again. After Agathloces' death in 289 BC the Lucanians and Bruttii pushed into the territory of Thurii and ravaged it. The city sent envoys to Rome to ask for help in 285 BC and 282 BC. On the second occasion, the Romans sent forces to garrison the city. This was part of the episode which sparked the Pyrrhic war.

With the passage of time the name Italy was consolidated in common usage beginning to define the inhabitants of the city-states of the [[Southern Italy|Mezzogiorno]] first as [[Italiotes]], then [[Italic peoples|Italics]] with the arrival of the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and, only much later would it move up the peninsula to define “Italy” in its entirety with the conquest of [[Cisalpine Gaul]] by [[Julius Caesar]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>