Epizephyrian Locris (), also known as Locri Epizephyrii or simply Locri, was an ancient Greek city in Southern Italy, located in Calabria on the Ionian Sea. The city was established as a Greek colony at the beginning of the 7th century BC by settlers from Locris in central Greece. The modern town of Locri derives its name from this ancient settlement...
The city was a center of Magna Graecia. during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Locri was home to athletes who achieved distinction in the Panhellenic Games..Bonnie MacLachlan, Chapter 11 Women and Nymphs at the Grotta Caruso, Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia, https://doi.org/10.7560/719026-013.
Ancient authors who referred to Locri include Strabo, Pausanias, Eusebius of Caesarea, Plutarch, Polybius, and Diodorus Siculus. Additional references to the city were identified in documents discovered at Olympia, Greece in 2018.
Site location The Locri Epizephyrii archaeological site is in Mandorleto, a frazione of the modern town of Locri, approximately 3 km southwest of the town centre. It is located between the Portigliola and Gerace rivers, between the Ionian Sea and the hills of Castellace, Abbadessa, and Manella. History
Foundation
Locri was the last of the Greek colonies founded in Calabria, following a wave of colonization by Achaeans from the Ionian coast (Metapontion, Poseidonia, Sybaris, Kroton)Strabo 6.1.12.Herodotus 8.47. shortly before 720BC.Eusebius, Chron. Arm., sub. Ol., 25, 1.Pausanias III, 3.Polybius, XII, 5; 6.Strabo, Geography, VI, 1. The first settlement was founded near Cape Zefirio (the current Cape Bruzzano).
Later, the colonists moved north, close to the Epopis hill, where they founded a city named "Epizephyrioi". The indigenous populations of the Sicels were driven out. William Smith, LLD, Ed., Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LOCRI, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=locri-geo02.
Disputes in origin Scholars hold contrasting views of the colonists' origins. Some argue that they might have come from Opuntian Locris, while others believe they originated in Ozolian Locris in whole or in part. Many believe that the settlers were Helots. The dispute is based on different ancient sources.Second Part – The Colonization and the Greek Age, Chapter 1, The Colonization and Origin of the Greek Settlers, https://www.locriantica.it/english/history/greek_age1.htm.
Government and organisation Locri functioned under a political model similar to that of Locris. A conservative militarist aristocracy exercised power through the so-called "Assembly of a Thousand", which was probably composed of citizens enjoying full political rights. The population was organised into three tribes and thirty-six phratries.Parte Seconda – La Colonizzazione e il Periodo Greco, Capitolo II, Organizzazione ed Espansione della Polis, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_greco2.htm.
The Epizephyrian Locris legal system was based on the legislation of Zaleucus, c. 660 BC and used a written, codified set of laws.
The system used the law of retaliation (Latin: lex talionis), imposing specific penalties for each crime committed in an attempt to prevent serial family feuds and private vengeance, which was customary at the time. The system also placed a much higher value on the role and social prestige of women within Epizephyrian Locrian society. This is seen in their role in the city's cults and their right to perpetuate inheritance and the name of a family over time, even in the absence of male heirs. The nobility also used matrilineality to trace its lineage.
In 7th century BC, the development of the city was underway, expanding from the hills onto the plain closer to the sea, based on an organized urban plan. Its sanctuaries and cults became well-known across the Greek world, particularly two sanctuary estates: one dedicated to Persephone (who was worshipped as the protector of fertile marriage, a role typically associated with Hera), and one to Aphrodite.
Expansion
The city's stability led to an expansion of control over the territory through the establishment of sub-colonies. This was driven by a desire for greater control of the area and a need to counter the threat of expansion of their enemy in Kroton. This was made possible by the city's notable demographic growth, which risked disrupting the existing fragile balance. Thus, it extended its control from the Ionian coast to the Tyrrhenian side of present-day Calabria;Visonà, P. 2010. 4. Controlling the chora. Archaeological investigations at Monte Palazzi, a mountain fort of Locri Epizephyrii. In Tréziny, H. (Ed.), Grecs et indigènes de la Catalogne à la mer Noire: Actes des rencontres du programme européen Ramses2 (2006–2008). Aix-en-Provence: Publications du Centre Camille Jullian. doi:10.4000/books.pccj.809. founding the two colonies of Medma (today Rosarno) and Hipponion (modern-day Vibo Valentia) between 650 and 600 BC. This was likely built on existing settlements, occupying Metauros (modern-day Gioia Tauro), previously established as a colony of Zancle (Messina) or Rhegion (Reggio Calabria).Parte Seconda – La Colonizzazione e il Periodo Greco, Capitolo II, Organizzazione ed Espansione della Polis, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_greco2.htm.
War with Kroton
At the Battle of the Sagra (560–550 BC), Locri emerged victorious, halting Kroton's territorial expansions, and establishing Locri as a new power in the region. Following this victory, the cult of the Dioscuri began to be observed in both Rhegion and Locri. During excavations of the Ionic temple of Marasà in Locri Epizephyrii, two marble acroteria statues were found, which may represent the twin sons of Zeus; these are now housed in the National Museum of Magna Graecia, Reggio.Trogo-Giustino, VP, XX 2, 13 ss.; XXI, 2, 7; 3, 2.
Locri expanded its control further north than ever before. It incorporated Kaulon, and likely Skylletion on the Ionian coast, as well as probably Terina, and Temesa on the Tyrrhenian coast, thereby gaining control over the territory between the Gulfs of Squillace and Sant’Eufemia. This led to a period of significant prosperity in the second half of the 6th century BC.Parte Seconda – La Colonizzazione e il Periodo Greco, Capitolo III, Il VI Secolo e lo Scontro con Crotone, Battaglia della Sagra, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_greco3.htm.
Alliance with Syracuse
Locri established alliances with the Deinomenids (485–465 BC) of Syracuse and later with Dionysius I and his son Dionysius II. In 477 BC, Anaxilas of Rhegion (modern day Reggio Calabria) prepared to attack Locri. Locri turned to Hieron I of Syracuse for help and successfully dissuaded Anaxilas.Parte Seconda – La Colonizzazione e il Periodo Greco, Capitolo IV, Il V secolo, L'alleanza con Siracusa e Sparta e gli scontri con Atene e Reggio, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_greco4.htm.
The 4th century BC was a period of artistic, economic, and cultural splendor for Locri. Inhabitants of note included the poet Nossis and the philosophers Echecrates, Timaeus, and Acrion, founders of a flourishing Pythagorean school (introduced to Locri at the time of Dionysius I). Plato visited Locri.Cicero, De finibus bonorum et malorum, V, 29, 87.
Roman conquest
The weakness of Syracuse left the Greek cities of southern Italy particularly vulnerable, as they were unprepared for the threat of the Bruttii, Samnites, and Lucanians. Fearing for their survival and distrusting the Italiote League, the Greek cities asked for help from Rome, which exploited this opportunity to extend its control southward by sending military garrisons. Locri received such a Roman garrison before 282 BC.Marcus Junianus Justinus, Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum 18.1.9.
In 280 BC, Pyrrhus invaded southern Italy to honour an alliance with Tarentum from the earlier Roman-Semite war. The shifting balance of power led Locri to ally with Pyrrhus, expelling the Roman garrison in protest of its dependence on Rome. However, the failure of Pyrrhus’s campaign, coupled with the growing unpopularity of his rule due to increasingly tyrannical behaviour, led Locri to surrender once again to Rome in 277 BC.Zonaras 8.6.
In 272 BC, Rome established a new garrison in Locri and, in return for their military support, made only moderate demands from the cities of Magna Graecia—exempting them from providing men for the legions and only requesting the supply of ships when needed.Polybius, Histories, I 20, 14 and XII 5, 2.Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, XLII 48, 7. Therefore, Locri became a socia navalis of Rome, remaining independent, while retaining its Greek characteristics, and continuing to mint its own money. In 264 BC, Locri provided several transport ships for Rome in the First Punic War, honouring their treaty.Polybius, Histories, I 20, 7.
Second Punic War
After the defeat of the Romans at Cannae (216 BC), Locri sided with the Carthaginians, swayed by Hannibal's promises of freedom and independence. Hannibal's priority was to conquer an outlet to the sea in Bruttium and, in the winter of 216/215 BC after abandoning plans to capture Rhegium, ordered Hanno to seize Locri.
Hanno sent cavalry forward under Hamilcar to capture the population outside the city walls, and thus a large number of prisoners were used to secure the unconditional surrender of the city. At the same time, the Locrians secretly allowed the Roman garrison, commanded by Lucius Atilius, to board ships to escape the city and go to Rhegium. Locri was thus granted significant autonomy, maintaining the port under its control, and being able to govern itself provided that it supported the Carthaginian forces.Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, XXIV 7, 1–13.
The cities of southern Italy were gradually retaken by the Romans and, after the Battle of the Metaurus, Locri was the last great city still in the hands of Hannibal. However, the army sent in 208 BC to support a naval expedition to recover Locri, led by Lucius Cincius Alimentus, was annihilated near Petelia. The two Roman consuls, Marcellus and Titus Quinctius Crispinus, were killed near the Carthaginian camps. The naval expedition reached Locri, and besieged it, but fled on the arrival of Hannibal.Parte Terza – Il Periodo Romano, Capitolo II, Seconda Guerra Punica: Locri tra Roma e Cartagine, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_romano2.htm.
In 205 BC, the consul Scipio Africanus devised another plan to reconquer Locri when some inhabitants of Locri fell into the hands of the Romans.Livy XXIX 6. Having been informed that a large portion of the population could no longer endure the Carthaginian occupation (an account corroborated by Locrian exiles residing in Rhegium), Scipio returned the prisoners to Locri. Once within the city walls, they conspired to eliminate the Carthaginian garrison during the night and admitted 3,000 Roman soldiers into the lower quarter of the city.Adam Ziółkowski, The Affair of Locri Epizephyrii In 205/204 BC, “Eos” LXX 1982, fasc. 2, pp. 319–329/ fasciculus extra ordinem editus electronicus, ISSN 0012-7825. The Carthaginian forces, taken by surprise, retreated to the citadel where prolonged skirmishes broke out between the opposing garrisons within the city. Hannibal immediately marched his army toward Locri, and was on the verge of reaching it when the Locrians joined forces with the Romans on the battlefield, decisively altering the course of the conflict.Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, XXIX 6, 17.
Aftermath