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Italiotes
The Italiotes ( grc-gre, Ἰταλιῶται, ') were the pre-Roman Greek-speaking inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula, between Naples and Sicily. Greek colonization of the coastal areas of southern Italy and Sicily started in the 8th century BC and, by the time of the Roman ascendance, the area was so extensively hellenized that Romans called it '' Magna Graecia'', that is "Greater Greece". The Latin alphabet is a derivative of the Western Greek alphabet used by these settlers, and was picked up and adopted and modified first by the Etruscans and then by the Romans. Italiote League Tarentum controlled the Italiote League from about the end of the 5th century BC and levied troops from the Greek cities. Dionysius I of Syracuse conquered southern Italy (Magna Graecia), crushing the Italiote (Greek) League at the Battle of the Elleporus and destroying Rhegium.''The Encyclopedia of World History'' by Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer Page 68 See also * Ancient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicels
The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia. History Archaeological excavation has shown some Mycenean influence on Bronze Age Sicily. The earliest literary mention of Sicels is in the ''Odyssey''. Homer also mentions Sicania, but makes no distinctions: "they were (from) a faraway place and a faraway people and apparently they were one and the same" for Homer, Robin Lane Fox notes. It is possible that the Sicels and the Sicani of the Iron Age had consisted of an Illyrian population who (as with the Messapians) had imposed themselves on a native, Pre-Indo-European ("Mediterranean") population. Thucydides and other classical writers were aware of the traditions according to which the Sicels had once lived in Central Ital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siceliotes
The Siceliotes (singular and adjectival form: Siceliot), formed a distinct ethno-cultural group in Sicily from about the 8th century BCE until their assimilation into the general Sicilian population. As Hellenic colonists (often reputedly of Doric origin) and descendants of colonists from Greece, they spoke Greek and participated in the wider cultural and political activities of Magna Graecia and of the Hellenic world as a whole. The Athenian historian Tucídides mentions them in various "places in his History of the Peloponnese War". The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire continued to see a distinction between the Siceliotes (the descendants of Greek settlers) and the non-Greek inhabitants of Sicily. Compare Italiotes and Sicels. See also *Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily originated from local Italiotes and Siceliotes who formed numerous city states. These Hellenistic communities descended from Greek migrants. Southern Italy was so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Coinage Of Italy And Sicily
Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily originated from local Italiotes and Siceliotes who formed numerous city states. These Hellenistic communities descended from Greek migrants. Southern Italy was so thoroughly hellenized that it was known as the Magna Graecia. Each of the polities struck their own coinage. Taras (or Tarentum) was among the most prominent city states. By the second century BC some of these Greek coinages evolved under Roman rule, and can be classified as the first Roman provincial currencies. Themes and design A common theme in the Italiote coinage was to include portraits of gods or other mythological figures. Some featured animals and other symbols. For instance, the coins of Sybaris (Thurium) portrayed goddess Minerva. Inhabitants of Kroton (Crotone) adorned their coinage with images of Hercules. The city of Posidonia (Paestum) had received its name from Greek god Poseidon whose portrait they struck in their coinage. The city was founded by Sybarite colonis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Peoples Of Italy
This list of ancient peoples living in Italy summarises groupings existing before and during the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy. Many of the names are either scholarly inventions or exonyms assigned by the ancient writers of works in ancient Greek and Latin. In regard to the specific names of particular ancient Italian tribes and peoples, the time-window in which historians know the historical ascribed names of ancient Italian peoples mostly falls into the range of about 750 BC (at the legendary foundation of Rome) to about 200 BC (in the middle Roman Republic), the time range in which most of the written documentation first exists of such names and prior to the nearly complete assimilation of Italian peoples into Roman culture. Nearly all of these peoples and tribes spoke Indo-European languages: Italics, Celts, Ancient Greeks, and tribes likely occupying various intermediate positions between these language groups. On the other hand, some Italian peoples (such as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers. These 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, such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, who became hellenized after they adopted the Greek culture as their own. The Greek expression ''Megálē Hellás'', later translated into Latin as ''Magna Graecia,'' first appears in Polybius' ''Histories,'' where he ascribed the term to Pythagoras and his philosophical school. Strabo also used the term to refer to the size of the territory that had been conquered by the Greeks, and the Roman poet Ovid used the term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysius I Of Syracuse
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies. He was regarded by the ancients as an example of the worst kind of despot—cruel, suspicious and vindictive. Endnotes: * Diod. Sic. xiii., xiv., xv. *J. Bass, ''Dionysius I. von Syrakus'' (Vienna, 1881), with full references to authorities in footnotes Early life of Dionysius the Elder Dionysius began his working life as a clerk in a public office. Because of his achievements in the war against Carthage that began in 409 BC, he was elected supreme military commander in 406 BC. In the following year he seized total power and became tyrant. He was married to Aristomache, and had a daughter by her, Arete. He was married at the same time to Doris of Locris, who bore him his son, Dionysius II of Syracuse. Rise to power Dionysiu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phlyax Play
A Phlyax play ( grc, φλύαξ, also phlyakes), also known as a hilarotragedy, was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the 4th century BCE. Its name derives from the Phlyakes or “Gossip Players” in Doric Greek. From the surviving titles of the plays they appear to have been a form of mythological burlesque, which mixed figures from the Greek pantheon with the stock characters and situations of Attic New Comedy. Only five authors of the genre are known by name: Rhinthon and Sciras of Taranto, Blaesus of Capri, Sopater of Paphos and Heraklides. The plays themselves survive only as titles and a few fragments. A substantial body of South Italian vases are thought to represent scenes of the phlyakes, giving rise to much speculation on Greek stagecraft and dramatic form. Characteristics of the genre Nossis of Locri provides the closest contemporary explanation of the genre in her epitaph for Rhinthon: Pass by with a loud laug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milo Of Croton
Milo or Milon of Croton (late 6th century BC) was a famous ancient Greek athlete. He was most likely a historical person, as he is mentioned by many classical authors, among them Aristotle, Pausanias, Cicero, Herodotus, Vitruvius, Epictetus, and the author of the ''Suda'', but there are many legendary stories surrounding him. He was born in the Greek colony of Croton in Southern Italy. He was a six time Olympic victor; once for Boys Wrestling in 540 BC at the 60th Olympics, and five time wrestling champion at the 62nd through 66th Olympiads. Milo kept on competing, even well after what would have been considered a normal Olympic Athlete's prime: by the 67th Olympiad, he would have been over 40 years of age. He also attended many of the Pythian Games. Diodorus Siculus wrote in his history that Milo was a follower of Pythagoras and also that he commanded the Crotonian army which defeated the Sybarites in 511 BC, while wearing his Olympic wreaths and dressed like Hercules i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italiot Greek (other)
Italiot Greek, also known as Salentino-Calabrian Greek, Italic-Greek or Apulia-Calabrian Greek refers to two dialects of Modern Greek, spoken in Italy by the Griko people. Griko or Italiot Greek refers to the Greek varieties spoken in some areas of southern Italy, a historical remnant of the ancient colonisation of Magna Graecia. There are two small Griko-speaking communities known as the Griko people who live in the Italian regions of Calabria, the southern tip of the Italian peninsula, and in Apulia, its south-easternmost corner. These varieties too are believed to have developed on the basis of an originally Doric ancient dialect, and have preserved some elements of it, though to a lesser extent than Tsakonian. They subsequently adopted influences from ancient Koiné, but became isolated from the rest of the Greek-speaking world after the decline of Byzantine rule in Italy during the Middle Ages. Among their linguistic peculiarities, besides influences from local romance languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Pandosia
The Battle of Pandosia was fought in 331 BC between a Greeks, Greek force led by Alexander I of Epirus against the Lucanians and Bruttians, two southern Italic peoples, Italic tribes. The Italic army soundly defeated the invading Greeks and killed Alexander during the battle. Background Alexander had arrived in Southern Italy with his army in 334 or 333 BC. He desired to emulate the conquests in the east by his nephew, Alexander the Great, in the west. A call for help from Taranto, Tarentum, which was at war with the Bruttians, provided the occasion for the expedition. Ancient historians also allege that Alexander was warned by the oracle of Zeus at Dodona that he should beware of the river Acheron and the city Pandosia (Epirus), Pandosia. Alexander assumed the oracle meant the river and city in Epirus. This encouraged him further to leave for Southern Italy, so he would be as far away from the river and city in Epirus as possible. He won a war with the Bruttians and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated population of nearly 200,000 and is the twenty-first most populous city in Italy, after Modena, and the 100th most populated city in Europe. Reggio Calabria is located in the exact center of the Mediterranean and is known for its climate, ethnic and cultural diversity. It is the third economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. About 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italy as a metropolitan city. Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the centre of the region. As a major functional pole in the region, it has strong historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Elleporus
The Battle of the Elleporus was fought in 389 BC between the forces of Dionysius I of Syracuse and the armies of the Italiote League. The armies of Syracuse triumphed, and Dionysius' control was extended into Southern Italy. After arriving in Italy, with a force of 20,000 men, 3000 horses, and a fleet of 40 galleys, Dionysius decided to lay siege to Caulonia, a city belonging to Locri. To force Dionysius into relaxing his siege, Heloris decided to leave his camp and marched north towards Eleporus with his army numbering 25,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalrymen mostly composed of other Syracusan exiles, Dionysius then lifted the siege and decided to march his army to Eleporus away from the enemy. The two armies were ignorant of each other's whereabouts until Dionysius acquired intelligence about Heloris's whereabouts from one of his scouts. Exploiting the advantage he ordered his forces to surprise attack the enemy at the dawn. Dionysius used his overwhelming numerical superiority ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
