Artas () or Artus ()A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Artas (ruled c. 430 – 413 BC) was a king of the Messapians. Artas was a strong ally of Athens during the Peloponnesian War and led an anti-Spartan campaign against Taras. Artas is also called Artos and in Greek is known as 'Bread-man'.Thucydides 7.33
Artas made an alliance with Athens around 430 BC.The Greek World 479-323 BC by Professor Simon Hornblower, pg. 111 The Iapygians placed the colony of Taras under constant pressure throughout the 5th century BC and indeed in the 4th century BC and the Hellenistic period as well. For the Athenians to align themselves with Artas was an anti-Tarentine and thus an anti-Spartan act. The Athenian cultivation of Artas was therefore a good way to create difficulties for the Spartan colony of Taras. His friendship was similar to the Athenian alliance with Metapontion.Walbank 1978 no.70
In 418 BC, Artas renewed his old friendship with Athens at the time when Athens was beginning its Sicilian Expedition and was a proxenos of Athens.A Commentary on Thucydides: Volume III: Books 5.25-8.109 by Simon Hornblower, pg.57/306 In 413 BC, Artas supplied the Athenians with one hundred and fifty javelin-throwers for the war against Syracuse.The emergence of state identities in Italy in the 1st millennium BC, pg.51 Artas made the Messapian state into a major military and political centre in the affairs of Magna Graecia.
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