Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia (/ˌmæɡnə ˈɡriːsjə, ˈɡriːʃə/, US: /ˌmæɡnə ˈɡreɪʃə/; Latin meaning "Great Greece", Ancient Greek: Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, Megálē Hellás, Italian: Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day regions of Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers.[1] The settlers who began arriving in the 8th century BC brought with them their Hellenic civilization which left a lasting imprint on Italy such as in the culture of ancient Rome. They also influenced the native peoples, especially the Sicilian Sicels, who became hellenised after they adopted the Greek culture as their own.

Magna Graecia Μεγάλη Ελλάς
Historical region
Northwestern   Achaean   Doric   Ionian
Present status	Italy

The term Magna Graecia first appears in Polybius' Histories.[2][3] The Roman poet Ovid notably referred to the south of Italy as such in his poem Fasti.

Antiquity

According to Strabo's Geographica, the colonization of Magna Graecia had already begun by the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries.[4]

In the 8th and 7th century BC, due to demographic crises (famine, overcrowding, etc.), stasis, a developing need for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland after wars, Greeks began to settle in southern Italy.[5] Colonies began to be established all over the Mediterranean and Black Seas (with the exception of Northwestern Africa, in the sphere of influence of Carthage), including in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called this area Magna Graecia (Latin for "Great Greece") since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks. Ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia, Campania and Calabria, Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions.

With colonization, Greek culture was exported to Italy in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites and its traditions of the independent polis. An original Hellenic civilization soon developed and later interacted with the native Italic civilisations. The most important cultural transplant was the Chalcidean/Cumaean variety of the Greek alphabet, which was adopted by the Etruscans; the Old Italic alphabet subsequently evolved into the Latin alphabet, which became the most widely used alphabet in the world.

These Hellenic colonies became very rich and powerful, and some still stand today such as Neapolis ("New City", now Naples), Syracuse, Akragas (Agrigento), Taras (Taranto), Rhegion (Reggio Calabria), or Kroton (Crotone).

The first Greek city to be absorbed into the Roman Republic was Neapolis in 327 BC.[6] The other Greek cities in Italy followed during the Samnite Wars and the Pyrrhic War; Taras was the last to fall in 272. Sicily was conquered by Rome during the First Punic War. Only Syracuse remained independent until 212, because its king Hiero II was a devoted ally of the Romans. His grandson Hieronymus however made an alliance with Hannibal, which prompted the Romans to besiege the city, which fell in 212, despite the machines of Archimedes as Proclus writes in his commentary on Euclid's Elements Archimedes constructed weapons functioning with compressed air, with weights and counterweights as Ctesibius and Hero explain.[7]

• 
  Greek temples of Paestum, Campania
• 
  Mosaic from Caulonia, Calabria
• 
  Temple of Hera in Metaponto, Basilicata
• 
  The Temple of Concordia, Akragas, Sicily
• 
  Milo of Croton
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  Archimedes of Syracuse
• 
  Archytas of Tarentum
• 
  5th century BC Greek coins of Tarentum
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  The goddess Nike riding on a two-horse chariot, Apulian patera (tray), 4th century BC.

List of Hellenic Poleis in Italy

This is a list of the 22 poleis (city states) in Italy, according to Mogens Herman Hansen.[8] It does not list all the Hellenic settlements, only those organised around a polis structure.

Ancient name(s)	Location	Modern name(s)	Foundation date	Mother city	Founder(s)
Herakleia (Lucania)	Basilicata	(abandoned)	433–432 BC	Taras (and Thourioi)	Un­known
Hipponion	Calabria	Vibo Valentia	late 7th century BC	Lokroi Epizephiroi	Un­known
Hyele, or Elea, Velia (Roman name)	Campania	(abandoned)	c.540–535 BC	Phokaia, Massalia	Refugees from Alalie
Kaulonia	Calabria	(abandoned)	7th century BC	Kroton	Typhon of Aigion
Kroton	Calabria	Crotone	709–708 BC	Rhypes, Achaia	Myscellus
Kyme, Cumae (Roman name)	Campania	(abandoned)	c.750–725 BC	Chalkis and Eretria	Hippokles of Euboian Kyme and Megasthenes of Chalkis
Laos	Calabria	(abandoned)	before 510 BC	Sybaris	Refugees from Sybaris
Lokroi (Epizephiroi)	Calabria	Locri	early 7th century BC	Lokris	Un­known
Medma	Calabria	(abandoned)	7th century BC	Lokroi Epizephiroi	Un­known
Metapontion	Basilicata	Metaponto	c. 630 BC	Achaia	Leukippos of Achaia
Metauros	Calabria	Gioia Tauro	7th century BC	Zankle (or possibly Lokroi Epizephiroi)	Un­known
Neapolis	Campania	Naples	c. 470 BC	Kyme	Un­known
Pithekoussai	Campania	Ischia	8th century BC	Chalkis and Eretria	Un­known
Poseidonia, Paestum (Roman name)	Campania	(abandoned)	c. 600 BC	Sybaris (and perhaps Troizen)	Un­known
Pyxous	Campania	Policastro Bussentino	471–470 BC	Rhegion and Messena	Mikythos, tyrant of Rhegion and Messena
Rhegion	Calabria	Reggio Calabria	8th century BC	Chalkis (with Zankle and Messenian refugees)	Antimnestos of Zankle (or perhaps Artimedes of Chalkis)
Siris	Basilicata	(abandoned)	c. 660 BC (or c. 700 BC)	Kolophon	Refugees from Kolophon
Sybaris	Calabria	Sibari	721–720 (or 709–708) BC	Achaia and Troizen	Is of Helike
Taras	Apulia	Taranto	c. 706 BC	Sparta	Phalanthos and the Partheniai
Temesa	unknown, but in Calabria	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (Ausones who became Hellenised)
Terina	Calabria	(abandoned)	before 460 BC, perhaps c. 510 BC	Kroton	Un­known
Thourioi	Calabria	(abandoned)	446 and 444–443 BC	Athens and many other cities	Lampon and Xenokrates of Athens

List of Hellenic Poleis in Sicily

This is a list of the 46 poleis (city states) in Sicily, according to Mogens Herman Hansen.[9] It does not list all the Hellenic settlements, only those organised around a polis structure.

Ancient name(s)	Location	Modern name(s)	Foundation date	Mother city	Founder(s)
Abakainon	Metropolitan City of Messina	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Adranon	Metropolitan City of Catania	Adrano	c.400 BC	Syrakousai	Dionysios I
Agyrion	Province of Enna	Agira	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Aitna	Metropolitan City of Catania	on the site of Katane	476 BC	Syrakousai	Hieron
Akragas	Province of Agrigento	Agrigento	c.580 BC	Gela	Aristonoos and Pystilos
Akrai	Province of Syracuse	near Palazzolo Acreide	664 BC	Syrakousai	Un­known
Alaisa	Metropolitan City of Messina	Tusa	403–402 BC	Herbita	Archonides of Herbita
Alontion, Haluntium (Roman name)	Metropolitan City of Messina	San Marco d’Alunzio	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Apollonia	Metropolitan City of Messina	Monte Vecchio near San Fratello	405–367 BC	Syrakousai	Possibly Dionysios I
Engyon	Province of Enna	Troina?	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Euboia	Metropolitan City of Catania	Licodia Eubea	7th century BC, perhaps late 8th century BC	Leontinoi	Un­known
Galeria	Un­known	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Gela	Province of Caltanissetta	Gela	689–688 BC	Rhodes (Lindos), Cretans	Antiphemos of Rhodes and Entimos the Cretan
Heloron	Province of Syracuse	(abandoned)	Un­known	Syrakousai	Un­known
Henna	Province of Enna	Enna	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Herakleia Minoa	Province of Agrigento	Cattolica Eraclea	after 628 BC	Selinous, Sparta	refounded by Euryleon after c.510 BC
Herakleia	unlocated in Western Sicily	(abandoned)	c.510 BC	Sparta	Dorieus
Herbessos	Province of Enna	Montagna di Marzo?	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Herbita	Un­known	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Himera	Province of Palermo	Termini Imerese	648 BC	Zankle, exiles from Syrakousai	Eukleides, Simos and Sakon
Hippana	Province of Palermo	Monte dei Cavalli	no Greek founder (indigenous settlement that became Hellenised)
Imachara	Metropolitan City of Catania	Mendolito	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Kallipolis	Un­known	(abandoned)	late 8th century BC	Naxos (Sicily)	Un­known
Kamarina	Province of Ragusa	Santa Croce Camerina	c.598 BC	Syrakousai, Korinth	Daskon of Syracuse and Menekolos of Corinth
Kasmenai	Province of Syracuse	(abandoned)	644–643 BC	Syrakousai	Un­known
Katane	Metropolitan City of Catania	Catania	729 BC	Naxos (Sicily)	Euarchos
Kentoripa	Province of Enna	Centuripe	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Kephaloidion	Province of Palermo	Cefalù	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Leontinoi	Province of Syracuse	Lentini	729 BC	Naxos (Sicily)	Theokles?
Lipara	Metropolitan City of Messina	Lipari	580–576 BC	Knidos, Rhodes	Pentathlos, Gorgos, Thestor and Epithersides
Longane	Metropolitan City of Messina	near Rodì Milici	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Megara Hyblaea	Province of Syracuse	Augusta	728 BC	Megara Nisaia	Theokles?
Morgantina	Province of Enna	near Aidone	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Mylai	Metropolitan City of Messina	Milazzo	700 BC?	Zankle	Un­known
Nakone	Un­known	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Naxos	Metropolitan City of Messina	Giardini Naxos	735–734 BC	Chalkis, Naxos (Cyclades)	Theokles
Petra	Un­known	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (indigenous settlement that became Hellenised)
Piakos	Metropolitan City of Catania	Mendolito?	no Greek founder (Sicels who became Hellenised)
Selinous	Province of Trapani	Marinella di Selinunte	628–627 BC	Megara Hyblaea	Pammilos
Sileraioi	Un­known	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (indigenous settlement that became Hellenised)
Stielanaioi	Metropolitan City of Catania?	(abandoned)	no Greek founder (indigenous settlement that became Hellenised)
Syrakousai	Province of Syracuse	Syracuse	733 BC	Korinth	Archias of Korinth
Tauromenion	Metropolitan City of Catania	Taormina	392 BC	Syrakousai	perhaps Dionysios I
Tyndaris	Metropolitan City of Messina	Tindari	396 BC	Syrakousai	Dionysios I
Tyrrhenoi	Province of Palermo?	Alimena?	no Greek founder (indigenous settlement that became Hellenised)
Zankle/Messana	Metropolitan City of Messina	Messina	c.730	Chalkis, Kyme	Perieres of Kyme and Krataimenes of Chalkis

Middle Ages

During the Early Middle Ages, following the disastrous Gothic War, new waves of Byzantine Christian Greeks may have come to Southern Italy from Greece and Asia Minor, as Southern Italy remained loosely governed by the Eastern Roman Empire. Although possible, the archaeological evidence shows no trace of new arrivals of Greek peoples, only a division between barbarian newcomers, and Greco-Roman locals. The iconoclast emperor Leo III appropriated lands that had been granted to the Papacy in southern Italy and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire continued to govern the area in the form of the Catapanate of Italy through the Middle Ages, well after northern Italy fell to the Lombards.[10]

At the time of the Normans' late medieval conquest of southern Italy and Sicily (in the late 12th century), the Salento peninsula (the "heel" of Italy) and up to one third of Sicily was still Greek speaking (concentrated in the Val Demone).[11] At this time the language had evolved into medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, and its speakers were known as Byzantine Greeks. The resultant fusion of local Byzantine Greek culture with Norman and Arab culture (from the Arab occupation of Sicily) gave rise to Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture on Sicily.

A remnant of this influence can be found in the survival of the Greek language in some villages of the above mentioned Salento peninsula (the "heel" of Italy). This living dialact of Greek, known locally as Griko, is found in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is considered by linguistics to be a descendant of Byzantine Greek, which had been the majority language of Salento through the Middle Ages, combining also some ancient Doric and modern Italian elements. There is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now but once numerous, to around 30,000 people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Some scholars, such as Gerhard Rohlfs, argue that the origins of Griko may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia.[12]

Modern Italy

Although many of the Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy were entirely Latinized during the Middle Ages, pockets of Greek culture and language remained and survived into modernity partly because of continuous migration between southern Italy and the Greek mainland. One example is the Griko people in Apulia, some of whom still maintain their Greek language and customs. Their working practices have been passed down through generations through storytelling and allowing the observation of work.[13] The Italian parliament recognizes the Griko people as an ethnolinguistic minority under the official name of Minoranze linguistiche Grike dell'Etnia Griko-Calabrese e Salentina.[14]

Greek nobles started taking refuge in Italy following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.[15] Greeks returned to the region in the 16th and 17th centuries in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottoman Empire. Especially after the end of the Siege of Coron (1534), large numbers of Greeks took refuge in the areas of Calabria, Salento and Sicily. Greeks from Coroni, the so-called Coronians, were nobles, who brought with them substantial movable property. They were granted special privileges and tax exemptions.

Other Greeks who moved to Italy came from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese. The Maniots (their name originating from the Greek word mania)[16] were known for their proud military traditions and for their bloody vendettas, many of which still continue today.[17] Another group of Maniot Greeks moved to Corsica in the 17th century under the protection of the Republic of Genoa.[18]

See also

• Ancient Greek dialects
• Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily
• Greeks in Italy
• Italiotes
• Graia
• Graïke
• Graecus
• Griko people
• Griko language
• Hellenic civilization
• Names of the Greeks

References

1. Henry Fanshawe Tozer (30 October 2014). A History of Ancient Geography. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-108-07875-7.
2. Polybius, ii. 39.
3. A. J. Graham, "The colonial expansion of Greece", in John Boardman et al., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. III, part 3, p. 94.
4. Strabo. "I, Section I". Geographica (in Greek). VI.
5. Luca Cerchiai; Lorena Jannelli; Fausto Longo (2004). The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Getty Publications. pp. 14–18. ISBN 978-0-89236-751-1.
6. Heitland, William Emerton (1911). A Short History of the Roman Republic. The University Press. pp. 72. Roman Republic Neapolis in 327 BC.
7. Proclus Phil., In primum Euclidis elementorum librum commentarii Page 41, line 7, Πρὸς δὴ ταύταις ἡ μηχανικὴ καλουμένη τῆς περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ τὰ ἔνυλα πραγματείας μέρος ὑπάρχουσα, ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην ἥ τε ὀργανοποιϊκὴ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἐπιτηδείων ὀργάνων, οἷα δὴ καὶ Ἀρχιμήδης λέγεται κατασκευάσαι τῶν πολεμούντων τὴν Συράκουσαν ἀμυντικὰ ὄργανα, καὶ ἡ θαυματοποιϊκὴ τὰ μὲν διὰ πνῶν φιλοτεχνοῦσα, ὥσπερ καὶ Κτησίβιος καὶ Ἥρων πραγματεύονται, τὰ δὲ διὰ ῥοπῶν, ὧν τῆς μὲν κινήσεως τὴν ἀνισορροπίαν αἰτιατέον, τῆς δὲ στάσεως τὴν ἰσορροπίαν, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ Τίμαιος διώρισεν, τὰ δὲ διὰ νεύρων καὶ σπάρτων ἐμψύχους ὁλκὰς καὶ κινήσεις ἀπομιμουμένων
8. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, pp. 249–320.
9. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, pp. 189–248.
10. Brown, T. S. (1979). "The Church of Ravenna and the Imperial Administration in the Seventh Century". The English Historical Review. 94 (370): 5. JSTOR 567155.
11. Loud, G. A. (2007). The Latin Church in Norman Italy. Cambridge University Press. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-521-25551-6. At the end of the twelfth century ... While in Apulia Greeks were in a majority – and indeed present in any numbers at all – only in the Salento peninsula in the extreme south, at the time of the conquest they had an overwhelming preponderance in Lucaina and central and southern Calabria, as well as comprising anything up to a third of the population of Sicily, concentrated especially in the north-east of the island, the Val Demone.
12. Rohlfs, Gerhard (1967). "Greek Remnants in Southern Italy". The Classical Journal. 62 (4): 164–9. JSTOR 3295569.
13. Rocco Agrifoglio (29 August 2015). Knowledge Preservation Through Community of Practice: Theoretical Issues and Empirical Evidence. Springer. p. 49. ISBN 978-3-319-22234-9.
14. Lapo Mola; Ferdinando Pennarola; Stefano Za (16 October 2014). From Information to Smart Society: Environment, Politics and Economics. Springer. p. 108. ISBN 978-3-319-09450-2.
15. Nanō Chatzēdakē; Museo Correr (1993). From Candia to Venice: Greek icons in Italy, 15th-16th centuries : Museo Correr, Venice, 17 September-30 October, 1993. Foundation for Hellenic Culture. p. 18.
16. Greece. Lonely Planet. 2008. p. 204.
17. Time. Time Incorporated. 1960. p. 4.
18. Greece. Michelin Tyre. 1991. p. 142. ISBN 978-2-06-701520-3.

Sources

• Polyxeni Adam-Veleni and Dimitra Tsangari (editors), Greek colonisation: New data, current approaches; Proceedings of the scientific meeting held in Thessaloniki (6 February 2015), Athens, Alpha Bank, 2015.
• Michael J. Bennett, Aaron J. Paul, Mario Iozzo, & Bruce M. White, Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.
• John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond (editors), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. III, part 3, The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C., Cambridge University Press, 1982.
• Giovanni Casadio & Patricia A. Johnston, Mystic Cults In Magna Graecia, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2009.
• Lucia Cerchiai, Lorenna Jannelli, & Fausto Longo (editors), The Greek cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily, Photography by Mark E. Smith, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004.ISBN 0-89236-751-2
• Giovanna Ceserani, Italy's Lost Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology, New York, Oxford University Press, 2012.
• T. J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks, 1948.
• M. Gualtieri, Fourth Century B.C. Magna Graecia: A Case Study, Jonsered, Sweden, P. Åströms, 1993.
• Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen, An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• R. Ross Holloway, Art and Coinage In Magna Graecia, Bellinzona, Edizioni arte e moneta, 1978.
• Margaret Ellen Mayo, The Art of South Italy: Vases From Magna Graecia, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
• Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli, The Greek World: Art and Civilization In Magna Graecia and Sicily, New York: Rizzoli, 1996.
• ———— (editor), The Western Greeks: Catalog of an exhibition held in the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, March–Dec., 1996, Milan, Bompiani, 1976.
• William Smith, "Magna Graecia." In Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, 1854.
• A. G. Woodhead, The Greeks in the West, 1962.
• Günther Zuntz, Persephone: Three Essays On Religion and Thought In Magna Graecia, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971.

External links

• Map. Ancient Coins.
• David Willey. Italy rediscovers Greek heritage. BBC News. 21 June 2005, 17:19 GMT 18:19 UK.
• Gaze On The Sea. Salentine Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece. (in Italian, Greek and English)
• Oriamu pisulina. Traditional Griko song performed by Ghetonia.
• Kalinifta. Traditional Griko song performed by amateur local group.
• Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Southern Italy. Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). June 11, 2015. (Dates: Monday, May 30, 2016 to Thursday, June 2, 2016.)
• Sergio Tofanelli et al. The Greeks in the West: genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily. European Journal of Human Genetics, (15 July 2015).