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KROTON (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Kroton: Eth. Krotoniates, Crotoniensis and Crotonensis, but Cicero
uses Crotoniatae for the people: Cotrone. One of the most celebrated of the Greek
colonies in Southern Italy, situated on the E. coast of the Bruttian peninsula,
at the mouth of the little river Aesarus, and about 6 miles N. of the Lacinian
Promontory. It was founded by a colony of Achaeans, led by Myscellus, a native
of Rhypae in Achaia, in obedience to the express injunction of the oracle at Delphi.
(Strab. vi. p. 262; Diod. viii. Exc. Vat. pp. 8, 9; Dionys. ii. 59; Ovid. Met.
xv. 9-59; Scymn. Ch. 325.) The date of its foundation is fixed by Dionysius at
B.C. 710, and his authority may probably be relied on, though Eusebius and Hieronymus
would place it some years later. (Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 174; Grote's Greece,
vol. iii. p. 401.) A tradition recorded by Strabo (l. c.), which would connect
its foundation with that of Syracuse by Archias, would therefore seem to be chronologically
inadmissible. Its name was derived, according to the current legend, from a person
of the name of Croton, who afforded a hospitable reception to Hercules during
the wanderings of that hero; but having been accidentally killed by him, was buried
on the spot, which Hercules foretold would eventually become the site of a mighty
city. (Diod. iv. 24; Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 50; Ovid, Met. xv. 12-18, 55; Etym. M.
v. Kroton.) Hence we find Croton sometimes called the founder of the city, while
the Crotoniats themselves paid peculiar honours to Hercules as their tutelary
divinity and Oekist. (Heraclid. Pont. 36; Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 40; Eckhel, vol. i.
p. 172.)
Crotona, as well as its neighbour Sybaris, seems to have rapidly risen
to great prosperity; but the general fact of its size, wealth, and power, is almost
all that we know concerning it; its history during the first two centuries from
its foundation being almost a blank to us. But the fact that the walls of the
city enclosed a space of not less than 12 miles in circuit (Liv. xxiv. 3), sufficiently
proves the great power to which it had attained; and it is during this early period
also that we find the Crotoniats extending their dominion across the Bruttian
peninsula, and founding the colony of Terina on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea,
as well as that of Caulonia between the parent city and Locri. Lametium also,
or Lametini, on the Hipponian Gulf, as well as Scyllacium on the opposite side
of the isthmus, must at this period have been subject to its rule. The great wealth
and prosperity enjoyed by the two neighbouring cities of Crotona and Sybaris,
seems to prove that they continued for a long time on terms of friendship, in
accordance with their common Achaean origin; and the Oenotrian tribes of the interior
were not powerful enough to offer any obstacle to their growth. They thus became
during the sixth century B.C. two of the most populous, wealthy, and powerful
cities of the Hellenic name. Crotona, however, was far less luxurious than its
rival; its inhabitants devoted themselves particularly to athletic exercises,
and became celebrated for the number of the prizes which they carried off at the
Olympic games. (Strab. vi. p. 262.) The government of Crotona appears to have
been of an oligarchic character; the supreme power being in the hands of a council
of one thousand persons, who were, or claimed to be, descendants from the original
settlers. (Iambl. V. P. 45; Val. Max. viii. 15. Ext. § 1.) This state of things
continued without interruption, till the arrival of Pythagoras, an event that
led to great changes both at Crotona and in the neighbouring cities. It was, apparently,
about the middle of the sixth century (between B.C. 540 and 530) that that philosopher
first established himself at Crotona, where he quickly attained to great power
and influence, which he appears to have employed not only for philosophical, but
for political purposes. But the nature of the political changes which he introduced,
as well as the revolutions that followed, is involved in great obscurity. We learn,
however, that besides the general influence which Pythagoras exerted over the
citizens, and even over the Great Council, he formed a peculiar society of 300
young men among the most zealous of his disciples, who, without any legal authority,
exercised the greatest influence over the deliberations of the supreme assembly.
This state of things continued for some time, until the growing unpopularity of
the Pythagoreans led to a democratic revolution, which ended in their expulsion
from Crotona and the overthrow of the Great Council, a democratic form of government
being substituted for the oligarchy. This revolution was not confined to Crotona,
but extended to several other cities of Magna Graecia, where the Pythagoreans
had obtained a similar footing; their expulsion led to a period of confusion and
disorder throughout the south of Italy. (Justin. xx. 4; Val. Max. viii. 15. Ext.
§ 1; Diog. Laert. viii. 1. § 3; Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 248-251, 255-262; Porphyr. Vit.
Pyth. 54, 55; Grote's Greece, vol. iv. pp. 525-550.)
It was during the period of the Pythagorean influence (so far as we
can trust the very confused and uncertain chronology of these events), that the
war occurred between Crotona and Sybaris which ended in the destruction of the
latter city. The celebrated athlete Milo, himself a leading disciple of Pythagoras,
was the commander of the Crotoniat army, which is said to have amounted to 100,000
men, while that of the Sybarites was three times as numerous; notwithstanding
which the former obtained a complete victory on the banks of the Traeis, and following
up their advantage took the city of Sybaris, and utterly destroyed it. The received
date of this event is B.C. 510. (Diod. xii. 9; Strab. vi. p. 263; Herod. v. 44,
vi. 21; Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 260; Scymn. Ch. 357-360.) Polybius, however, represents
the Crotoniats as concluding a league with Sybaris and Caulonia, after the expulsion
of the Pythagoreans, a statement wholly irreconcilable with the history transmitted
by other authors. (Pol. ii. 39. See on this point Grote's Greece, vol. iv. p.
559.)
The next event of importance in the history of Crotona, would appear
to be the great defeat which the Crotoniats in their turn sustained at the river
Sagras, where it is said that their army, though consisting of 130,000 men, was
routed by 10,000 Locrians and Rhegians with such slaughter, as to inflict an indelible
blow upon the prosperity of their city. (Strab. vi. pp. 261, 263; Cic. de N. D.
ii. 2; Suid. s. v. alethestera.) Justin, on the contrary (xx. 2, 3), represents
this event as having taken place before the arrival of Pythagoras; but the authority
of Strabo seems decidedly preferable on this point, and is more consistent with
the general history of Crotona. Heyne, however, follows Justin, and places the
battle of the Sagras as early as 360 B.C., and Mr. Grote inclines to the same
view. As no notice is found in the extant books of Diodorus of so important an
event, it seems certain that it must have occurred before B.C. 480. (Heyne, Prolus.
Acad. x. p. 184; Grote's Greece, vol. iv. p. 552.) Strabo has, however, certainly
exaggerated the importance of this disaster in its effects on Crotona; for nearly
a century later that city is still spoken of as the most populous and powerful
of the Greek colonies in this part of Italy. (Diod. xiv. 103.)
Very few notices of it are found in the interval. We learn only that
the Crotoniats viewed with favour the establishment of the new colony of Thurium,
and concluded a treaty of alliance with it (Diod. xii. 11); and that during the
Athenian expedition to Sicily they endeavoured to preserve a strict neutrality,
furnishing the Athenian fleet with provisions, but refusing to allow the passage
of the land forces through their territory. (Diod. xiii. 3; Thuc. vii.35.) In
B.C. 389, when the elder Dionysius carried his arms across the Sicilian Strait,
and proceeded to attack Caulonia, the Crotoniats put themselves at the head of
the Greek cities which opposed the Sicilian despot, but the confederate forces
were totally defeated by Dionysius at the river Helleporus; and the latter, following
up his advantage, made himself master of Caulonia, Hipponium, and Scylletium.
the last of which he wrested from the dominion of Crotona. (Diod. xiv. 103-107;
Strab. vi. p. 261.) No mention is found in Diodorus of his having made any attack
on Crotona itself, but Livy tells us that he surprised the citadel, and by this
means made himself master of the city (Liv. xxiv. 3); of which, according to Dionysius,
he retained possession for not less than 12 years. (Dionys. Exc. xix.) After the
fall of the tyrant, Crotona appears to have recovered its independence; but it
suffered severely from the growing power of the Lucanians and Bruttians, who pressed
upon it from without, as well as from domestic dissensions. It was at one time
actually besieged by the Bruttians, and compelled to apply for aid to the Syracusans,
who sent an armament to its succour under Heracleides and Sosistratus; but those
generals seem to have carried on intrigues with the different parties in Crotona,
which gave rise to revolutions in the city; and after the Crotoniats had rid themselves
of their Bruttian foes by a treaty, they were engaged in a war with their own
exiles. (Diod. xix. 3, 10.) The conduct of this was entrusted to a general named
Menedemus, who defeated the exiles, but appears to have soon after established
himself in the possession of despotic power. (Id. xix. 10, xxi. 4.) In B.C. 299,
Agathocles made himself master of Crotona, in which he established a garrison.
(Id. xxi. 4. Exc. H. p. 490.) How long he retained possession of it we know not;
but it is clear that all these successive revolutions must have greatly impaired
the prosperity of Crotona, to which, according to Livy (xxiv. 3), the final blow
was given during the war of Pyrrhus. The circumstances of this are very imperfectly
known to us; but it appears that the Rhegians made themselves masters of the city
by treachery, put the Roman garrison to the sword, and destroyed great part of
the city. (Zonar. viii. 6. p. 127.) It subsequently passed into the power of Pyrrhus,
but was surprised and taken by the Roman consul Cornelius Rufinus during the absence
of that monarch in Sicily, B.C. 277. (Id. p. 123; Frontin. Strat. iii. 6. § 4.)
So reduced was the city after all these disasters, that little more than half
the extent comprised within the walls continued to be inhabited. (Liv. xxiv. 3.)
In the Second Punic War the Brattians, with the assistance of the
Carthaginian general Hanno, succeeded in making themselves masters of Crotona,
with the exception of the citadel, which held out until the defenders were induced
by Hanno to surrender upon terms; the aristocratic party, who had occupied it,
being persuaded to migrate to Locri, and a body of Bruttians introduced into the
city to fill up the vacancy of its inhabitants. (Liv. xxiv. 2, 3.) The fortifications
of Crotona, its port, and the strength of its citadel, still rendered it a place
of some importance in a military point of view, and during the last years of the
war it was the principal stronghold which remained in the hands of Hannibal, who
established his chief magazines there, and fixed his head-quarters for three successive
winters in its immediate neighbourhood. (Liv. xxix. 36, xxx. 19; Appian. Annib.
57.) The ravages of this war appear to have completed the decay of Crotona; so
that a few years afterwards, in B.C. 194, a colony of Roman citizens was sent
thither to recruit its exhausted population. (Liv. xxxiv. 45.) From. this period
Crotona sank into the condition of an obscure provincial town, and is not again
mentioned in history until after the fall of the Roman Empire. Its port, however,
appears to have been always in some degree frequented as a place of passage to
Greece (Cic. ad Att. ix. 1. 9); and an inscription still gives it the title of
a colony in Imperial times (Mommsen, Inscr. R. Neap. 73), though neither Pliny
nor Ptolemy acknowledges it as such. The name of Crotona again appears in the
wars of Belisarius and Narses against the Goths (Procop. B. G. iii. 28, iv. 26);
it was one of the few cities which at that time still retained some consideration
in this part of Italy, and continued under the sovereignty of the Byzantine Emperors
till it passed with the rest of the modern Calabria into the hands of the Normans.
The modern city of Cotrone is but a poor place, though possessing about 5000 inhabitants,
and a well-fortified citadel. This fortress undoubtedly occupies the same situation
as the ancient arx, on a rock projecting into the sea (Liv. xxiv. 3), and affording
in consequence some degree of shelter to the port. But the importance of the latter,
though frequently mentioned as one of the sources of the prosperity of Crotona,
must not be overrated. Polybius expressly tells us that it was no good harbour,
but only a Therinos hormos, or station where ships could ride in summer (Pol.
x. 1), and that its value arose from the absence of all harbours along this part
of the Italian coast. The ancient city spread itself out in the plain to the W.
and N. of the citadel; in the days of its prosperity it extended far across the
river Aesarus, which in consequence flowed through the middle of the city; but
as early as the Second Punic War, the town had shrunk so much that the Aesarus
formed its northern limit, and flowed on the outside of its walls. (Liv. xxiv.
3.) It is now about a mile to the N. of the modern town.
We have scarcely any topographical information concerning the ancient
city, and there are no ruins of it remaining. Many fragments of masonry and ancient
edifices are said to have been still in existence till about the middle of last
century, when they were employed in the construction of a mole for the protection
of the port. Livy tells us that the walls of Crotona in the days of its greatness
enclosed an extent of 12 miles in circumference; and though its population was
not equal to that of Sybaris, it was still able to send into the field an army
of 100,000 men. Even in the time of Dionysius of Syracuse, when it had already
declined much from its former prosperity, Crotona was still able to furnish a
fleet of 60 ships of war. (Diod. xiv. 100.) But in the Second Punic War the whole
number of citizens of all ages had dwindled to less than 20,000, so that they
were no longer able to defend the whole extent of their walls. (Liv. xxiii. 30.)
Crotona was celebrated in ancient times for the healthiness of its
situation. An old legend represented Archias, the founder of Syracuse, as having
chosen wealth for his city, while Myscellus preferred health (Strab. vi. p. 269;
Steph. B. v. Surakousan): according to another tale, Myscellus, when he first
visited Italy, preferred the situation of Sybaris, but was commanded by the oracle
to adhere to the spot first indicated to him. (Strab. vi. p. 262.) To the favourable
position of the city in this respect was ascribed the superiority of its citizens
in athletic exercises, which was so remarkable that on one occasion they bore
away the seven first prizes in the footrace at the Olympic games. (Strab. l. c.;
Cic. de Inv. ii. 1) Among their athletes Milo was the most celebrated for his
gigantic strength and power of body. (Biogr. Dict. art. Milo.) To the same cause
was attributed the remarkable personal beauty for which their youths and maidens
were distinguished. (Cic. l. c.) The system of training which produced these results
was probably closely connected with the medical school for which Crotona was preeminent
in the days of Herodotus, the physicians of Crotona being regarded at that time
as unquestionably the first in Greece (Herod. iii. 131), and at a later period
the school of Crotona still maintained its reputation by the side of those of
Cos and Cnidus (Grote's Greece, vol. iv. p. 539). Among the most eminent of the
physicians of Crotona we may notice Alcmaeon, to whom the first introduction of
anatomy was ascribed, and Democedes, who was for some time physician at the court
of Darius, king of Persia. (Herod. iii. 129-138.) The great influence exercised
by Pythagoras during his residence at Crotona naturally raised up a numerous school
of his disciples, many of whom perished in the political revolution that put an
end to their power in that city, while the rest were dispersed and driven into
exile: a long list of Pythagorean philosophers, natives of Crotona, is preserved
to us by Iamblichus (Vit. Pyth. 167); but the only two names of real eminence
among them are those of Alcmaeon, already mentioned, and Philolaus, whom however
Iamblichus represents as belonging to Tarentum. (Diog. Laert. viii. 5, 7.)
The territory of Crotona in the days of its prosperity was extensive,
stretching from sea to sea: on the N. it was bounded by the river Hylias (Thuc.
vii. 35), while to the S. it probably extended to the confines of the Locrians,
the intermediate towns of Scylletium and Caulonia being its colonies and dependencies.
The immediate neighbourhood of the city, though less fertile than that of Sybaris
and Thurii, was well adapted for the growth of corn, and the luxuriant pastures
of the valley of the Neaethus are celebrated by Theocritus, and retain their richness
to the present day. The same poet, who has laid the scene of one of his Idylls
in the neighbourhood of Crotona, speaks with praise of the banks of the Aesarus,
which are now dreary and barren: as well as of the pastures and shady woods of
two mountains called Physcus and Latymnum. These last must have been situated
in the neighbourhood of Crotona, but cannot be identified with any certainty.
(Theocr. iv. 17-19, 23-25; and Schol. ad loc.; Swinburne's Travels, vol. i. p.
313.)
Six miles distant from the city of Crotona was the celebrated temple
of the Lacinian Juno, on the promontory of the same name. (Liv. xxiv. 3; Strab.
vi. p. 261; Scyl. p. 5. § 13; Dionys. Per. 371; and Eustath. ad loc.) Livy calls
it nobile templum, ipsa urbe nobilius: indeed, there was no other temple of equal
fame or sanctity in the whole of Magna Graecia. The period of its foundation is
wholly unknown. Virgil alludes to it as already in existence at the time of the
voyage of Aeneas, and Dionysius tells us that a bronze cup was still preserved
there, which had been dedicated by that hero. (Virg. Aen. iii. 552; Dionys. i.
52.) Some legends ascribed its foundation to Hercules, others to Lacinius or Lacinus,
who was said to have been dwelling there when it was visited by Hercules, and
from whom the promontory derived its name: others, again, spoke of the headland
and sacred grove as having been presented by Thetis to Hera herself. (Diod. iv.
24; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 857, 1006; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 552.) These legends may be
considered as indicating that the temple did not owe its foundation to the Greek
colonists of Crotona, but that there previously existed a sacred edifice, or at
least a consecrated locality (temenos), on the spot, probably of Pelasgic origin.
The temple of Hera became the scene of a great annual assembly of all the Italian
Greeks, at which a procession took place in honour of the goddess, to whom splendid
offerings were made; and this festival became a favourite occasion for the Greeks
of the neighbouring cities to display their magnificence. (Pseud. Arist. de Mirab.
96; Athen. xii. p. 541.) The interior of the temple was adorned with paintings,
executed by order of the Crotoniats at the public cost, among which the most celebrated
was that of Helen by Zeuxis, for the execution of which that artist was allowed
to select five of the most beautiful virgins of the city as his models. (Cic.
de Inv. ii. 1; Plin. xxxv. 9. s. 36.) Besides abundance of occasional offerings
of the most costly description, the temple derived great wealth from its permanent
revenues, especially its cattle, out of the produce of which a column of solid
gold was formed, and set up in the sanctuary. (Liv. xxiv. 3.) Immediately adjoining
the temple itself was an extensive grove, or rather forest, of tall pinetrees,
enclosing within it rich pastures, on which the cattle belonging to the temple
were allowed to feed, unprotected and uninjured. (Ibid.)
The immense mass of treasures that had thus accumulated in the temple
is said to have excited the cupidity of Hannibal, during the time that he was
established in its neighbourhood, but he was warned by the goddess herself in
a dream to refrain from touching them. (Cic. de Div. i. 2. 4) It was at the same
period that he dedicated there a bronze tablet, containing a detailed account
of his wars in Spain and Italy, the number of his forces, &c., which was consulted,
and is frequently referred to, by the historian Polybius. (Pol. iii. 33, 56.)
But though this celebrated sanctuary had been spared both by Pyrrhus and Hannibal,
it was profaned by the Roman censor Q. Fulvius Flaccus, who, in B.C. 173, stripped
it of half its roof, which was composed of marble slabs instead of tiles, for
the purpose of adorning a temple of Fortuna Equestris, which he was erecting at
Rome. The outrage was, indeed, severely censured by the senate, who caused the
slabs to be carried back to Lacinium, but in the decayed condition of the province,
it was found impossible to replace them. (Liv. xlii. 3; Val. Max. i. 1. § 20.)
The decay of the temple may probably be dated as commencing from this period,
and must have resulted from the general decline of the neighbouring cities and
country. But Appian tells us that it was still wealthy, and replete with offerings,
as late as B.C. 36, when it was plundered by Sex. Pompeius. (App. B.C. v. 133.)
Hence Strabo speaks of it as having in his time lost its wealth, though the temple
itself was still in existence. Pliny mentions the Lacinian Promontory, but without
noticing the temple. It appears, however, from extant remains, as well as from
an inscription, Herae Laciniae, found in the ruins, that it still continued to
subsist as a sacred edifice down to a late period. (Dionys. i. 52; Strab. vi.
p. 261; Mommsen, I. R. N. 72.)
The ruins of this celebrated temple are but inconsiderable; one column
alone is standing, of the Doric order, closely resembling those of Metapontum:
it is. based on a foundation of large stones cut into facets: but some admixture
of brickwork shows that the building must have been repaired in Roman times. A
second column was standing till near the middle of the last century; and considerable
remains of the pavement, and the wall which formed the peribolus of the temple,
were carried off to be used in the construction of the mole and the bishop's palace
at Cotrone. Riedesel, who visited these ruins in 1767, and upon whose authority
many modern writers have described the building as of enormous extent, appears
to have been misled by some masses of masonry (of reticulated work, and therefore
certainly of Roman construction), more than 100 yards distant from the column,
and which could never have formed any part of the temple. These fragments are
generally known by the absurd appellation of the School of Pythagoras. The position
of the temple on a bold projecting rock (as described by Lucan. ii. 434), must
have been very striking, commanding a noble view in all directions, and forming
a landmark to voyagers, who were in the habit of striking across the bay direct
from the Iapygian Promontory to that of Lacinium (Virg. Aen. iii. 552). The single
column that forms its solitary remnant, still serves the same purpose. (Swinburne's
Travels, vol. i. pp. 321-323; Craven, Southern Tour, p. 238.)
The coins of Crotona are very numerous: the more ancient ones are
of the class called incuse, having the one side convex, the other concave: a mode
of coinage peculiar to the cities of Magna Graecia. The type of all these earlier
coins is a tripod, as on the one annexed, in allusion to the oracle of Delphi,
in pursuance of which the city was founded; later coins have the head of the Lacinian
Juno, and on the reverse the figure of Hercules.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PETELIA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Petelia or Petilia (Petelia: Eth. Petelinos, Petelinus: Strongoli),
an ancient city of Bruttium, situated about 12 miles N. of Crotona, and 3 miles
from the E. coast of the peninsula. According to the Greek traditions it was a
very ancient city, founded by Philoctetes after the Trojan War. (Strab. vi. p.
254; Virg. Aen. iii. 401; Serv. ad loc.) This legend probably indicates that it
was really a town of the Chones, an Oenotrian tribe; as the foundation of Chone,
in the same neighbourhood, was also ascribed to Philoctetes. It was only a small
place (Virg. l. c.), but in a strong situation. We have no account of its receiving
a Greek colony, nor is its name ever mentioned among the Greek cities of this
part of Italy; but, like so many of the Oenotrian towns, became to a great extent
Hellenised or imbued with Greek culture and manners. It was undoubtedly for a
long time subject to Crotona, and comprised within the territory of that city;
and probably for this reason, its name is never mentioned during the early history
of Magna Graecia. But after the irruption of the Lucanians, it fell into the hands
of that people, by whom it was strongly fortified, and became one of their most
important strongholds. (Strab. l. c.) It is apparently on this account, that Strabo
calls it the metropolis of the Lucanians, though it certainly was not included
in Lucania as the term was understood in his day. Petelia first became conspicuous
in history during the Second Punic War, when its citizens remained faithful to
the Roman alliance, notwithstanding the general defection of the Bruttians around
them, B.C. 216. They were in consequence besieged by the Bruttians as well as
by a Carthaginian force under Himilco: but though abandoned to their fate by the
Roman senate, to whom they had in vain sued for assistance, they made a desperate
resistance; and it was not till after a siege of several months, in which they
had suffered the utmost extremities of famine, that they were at length compelled
to surrender. (Liv. xxiii. 20, 30; Polyb. vii. 1; Appian, Annib. 29; Frontin.
Strat. iv. 5. § 18; Val. Max. vi. 6, ext. § 2; Sil. Ital. xii. 431.) The few inhabitants
who escaped, were after the close of the war restored by the Romans to their native
town (Appian, l. c.), and were doubtless treated with especial favour; so that
Petelia rose again to a prosperous condition, and in the days of Strabo was one
of the few cities of Bruttium that was still tolerably flourishing and populous.
(Strab. vi. p. 254.) We learn from inscriptions that it still continued to be
a flourishing municipal town under the Roman Empire (Orell. Inscr. 137, 3678,
3939; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. pp. 5, 6): it is mentioned by all the geographers
and its name is still found in the Tabula, which places it on the road from Thurii
to Crotona. (Mel. ii. 4. § 8; Plin. iii. 10. s. 15; Ptol. iii. 1. F § 75 ; Tab.
Peut.) But we are unable to trace its history further: its identification with
Strongoli is, however, satisfactorily made out by the inscriptions which have
been found in the latter city. Strongoli is an episcopal see, with about 7000
inhabitants: its situation on a lofty and rugged hill, commanding the plain of
the Nieto (Neaethus), corresponds with the accounts of Petelia, which is represented
as occupying a position of great natural strength. There are no ruins of the ancient
city, but numerous minor objects of antiquity have been found on the spot, besides
the inscriptions above referred to.
The existence of a second town of the name of Petelia in Lucania,
which has been admitted by several writers, rests mainly on the passage of Strabo
where he calls Petelia the metropolis of Lucania; but he is certainly there speaking
of the well-known city of the name, which was undoubtedly in Bruttium. The inscriptions
published by Antonini, to prove that there was a town of this name in the mountains
near Velia, are in all probability spurious (Mommsen, I. R. N. App. p. 2), though
they have been adopted, and his authority followed by Romanelli and Cramer. (Romanelli,
vol. i. p. 348; Cramer's Italy, vol. ii. p. 367.) The Petelini Montes (ta Petelina
ore), mentioned by Plutarch (Crass. 11), to which Spartacus retired after his
defeat by Crassus, are evidently the rugged group of the Apennines S. of the Crathis,
between Petelia and Consentia.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KROTON (Ancient city) CALABRIA
or Croton (Kroton). The modern Cotrone. A powerful city of Italy,
in the Bruttiorum Ager, on the coast of the Sinus Tarentinus. Its foundation is
ascribed to Myscellus, an Achaean leader, soon after Sybaris had been colonized
by a party of the same nation, which was about B.C. 710. According to some traditions
the origin of Crotona was much more ancient, and it is said to derive its name
from the hero Croton. The residence of Pythagoras and his most distinguished followers
in this city, together with the overthrow of Sybaris which it accomplished, and
the exploits of Milo and of several other Crotonian victors in the Olympic Games,
contributed in a high degree to raise its fame; and, in consequence, it was commonly
said that the last athlete of Crotona was the first of the other Greeks. This
city was also celebrated for its school of medicine, and was the birthplace of
Democedes, who long enjoyed the reputation of being the first physician of Greece.
About B.C. 510, Crotona sent an army of 100,000 men, commanded by the athlete
Milo, against its powerful rival, Sybaris, by which the latter city was destroyed.
The removal of its rival, however, produced an enervating effect upon Crotona.
As a proof of the remarkable change which took place in the warlike spirit of
this people, it is said that, on their being subsequently engaged in hostilities
with the Locrians, an army of 130,000 Crotoniatae were routed by 10,000 of the
enemy on the banks of the Sagras. Such was, indeed, the loss they experienced
in this battle that, according to Strabo, their city henceforth rapidly declined,
and could no longer maintain the rank it had long held among the Italian republics.
Dionysius the Elder, who was then aiming at the subversion of all the States of
Magna Graecia, having surprised the citadel, gained possession of the town, which,
however, he did not long retain. Crotona was finally able to assert its independence
against his designs, as well as the attacks of the Bruttii; and when Pyrrhus invaded
Italy it was still a considerable city. But the consequences of the war which
ensued with that king proved so ruinous to its prosperity that above one half
of its extent became deserted. Crotona was then occupied by the Bruttii, with
the exception of the citadel, in which the chief inhabitants had taken refuge;
these, being unable to defend the place against a Carthaginian force, soon after
surrendered, and were allowed to withdraw to Locri. Crotona eventually fell into
the hands of the Romans, in B.C. 193, and a colony was established there.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PETELIA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
(Petelia) or Petilia. Now Strongoli; an ancient Greek town on the eastern coast of Bruttium, founded, according to tradition, by Philoctetes. It was taken by Hannibal after a desperate resistance, and by him colonized with Bruttians; but the Romans restored it to its own people.
KROTON (Ancient city) CALABRIA
KRIMISSA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
According to tradition the site was founded by Philoktetes. An indigenous
Iron Age settlement is represented by two small grottos containing skeletons,
pottery, and small bronzes. In the early archaic period a temple dedicated to
Apollo Alius on the Punta d'Alicia was constructed. The pronaos was omitted; instead
the cella began with two columns in antis and had four interior columns along
the central axis. Four columns or posts (2 x 2) stood in the adyton. The terracotta
revetments on the raking cornices carried antefixes and two superimposed architrave
taenias with staggered regulae and guttae. Towards the end of the 5th c. B.C.
or the beginning of the 4th, a peristyle (8 x 19) was added on a slightly higher
level, leaving the cella lower. Most of the architectural terracottas from the
site belong to this last phase and show Tarentine influence. Among the finds is
an acrolithic seated Apollo playing a lyre. Conjectures as to the date range from
the mid 5th c. B.C. into the Hadrianic period, with an early date generally preferred.
This and the other objects are in the National Museum of Reggio Calabria.
J. P. Small, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
KROTON (Ancient city) CALABRIA
On the E coast of the toe of Italy some 246 km NE of Reggio di Calabria,
the city stands on a promontory which forms two defensible ports. In accordance
with the Delphic oracle, Myskellos of Rhypai founded an Achaian colony there (Strab.
6.1.12) in 710 B.C., ten years after the establishment of Sybaris. The city soon
spread into the fertile plains to the S, and in ca. 675 B.C. it initiated the
foundation of another Achaian colony, Kaulonia. In the middle of the 6th c B.C.
Kroton attacked Lokroi with an army of 120,000 men (Just. 20.2-3) but was decisively
defeated at the river Sagra (perhaps the modern Allaro). A period of decline set
in, from which the town was aroused by the arrival from Samos in ca. 530 B.C.
of Pythagoras, who remodeled the constitution. The city became famous as the home
of athletes, doctors, and philosophers. In 510 B.C. Kroton became embroiled in
a war with Sybaris and defeated it in a single battle near the river Krathis.
Kroton now became the most powerful city in S Italy. During the 4th c. B.C. it
suffered from attacks by the Lucanians and Bruttians and became further exhausted
during the campaigns of Pyrrhos. The final blow came when Hannibal made it the
center of his desperate retreat from Italy. In 194 B.C., when the Romans planted
a colony on the site, it ceased to be a place of importance.
No traces of the ancient city remain. The harbor still exists although
much changed by modern construction. The site of the acropolis is marked by the
castle built in A.D. 1541 by Don Pedro di Toledo. Attempts have been made to trace
the city walls, which Livy (24.3.1) says extended 12 Roman miles. It is likely
that the walls ran in a NW direction from the harbor, crossing the Esaro river,
and that the town lay facing the sea, half on one side of the river and half on
the other.
Excavations have taken place in the important Sanctuary of Hera Lakinia,
which stood on a promontory (the modern Capo Colonna) some 10 km to the S. Here
processions and games took place in a yearly assembly of the Italian Greeks. The
interior of the temple contained paintings, the most celebrated of which was a
picture of Hera by Zeuxis. A single Doric column out of 48 now remains, together
with the stereobate in the NE corner; the rest was carried away by Bishop Lucifero
of Crotone at the beginning of the 16th c. The peristyle (hexastyle x 16) had
columns inclining inwards. There was a double colonnade across the E front in
the old Sicilian fashion, and the porches were distyle in antis. The temple was
remarkable for its marble decoration-- roof tiles, interior cornices, and pedimental
sculpture of Parian marble, fragments of which have been found. The present temple
dates to the second quarter of the 5th c. B.C., but an earlier one of the 7th
c. had once stood on the site. Other buildings of the temenos also survive. The
peribolos wall exists and in places rises to a height of 7 m. In the E side is
a monumental propylon, which has been cleared and repaired. Nearby two buildings
have been discovered. One has a central court surrounded by rooms, and on its
exterior runs a portico with stone columns faced with stucco. The other consists
of a corridor dividing two series of rooms. Other edifices include priests' dwellings
and treasuries. Crotone has a museum which contains finds from the area.
W.D.E. Coulson, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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