Artas ( grc, Ἄρτας; ruled ''c.'' 430 – 413 BC) was a king of the
Messapians. Artas was a strong ally of
Athens during the
Pelopponesian War
The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...
and led an anti-
Spartan campaign against
Taras
Taras may refer to:
Geography
* Taras (ancient city) of Magna Graecia, modern-day Taranto
* Taras, Iran, a village in Tehran province
* Taras, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland
* Taraš, a village in Vojvodina, Serbia
* Taras, Kazakhstan, a village in ...
. Artas is also called Artos and in Greek is known as 'Bread-man'.
Artas made an alliance with Athens around 430 BC. 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.
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. In 413 BC, Artas supplied the Athenians with one hundred and fifty javelin-throwers for the war against
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
.
[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
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 re ...
.
References
Illyrian kings
5th-century BC monarchs
Ancient Italian history
People of the Peloponnesian War
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