Scidrus, also known as Skidros ( grc, Σκίδρος), was an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
city on the coast of
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Brutti ...
, on the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
, between
Pyxus
Policastro Bussentino (or simply Policastro) is an Italian town and hamlet (''frazione'') of the municipality of Santa Marina (of which it is its seat) in the province of Salerno, Campania region. It is a former bishopric, now titular see, an ...
(
Buxentum
Policastro Bussentino (or simply Policastro) is an Italian town and hamlet (''frazione'') of the municipality of Santa Marina (of which it is its seat) in the province of Salerno, Campania region. It is a former bishopric, now titular see, an ...
) and
Laüs
Laüs or Laus ( grc, Λᾶος; it, Laos) was an ancient city of Magna Graecia on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was a colony of Sybaris at the mouth of the Lao River, which formed the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium in ancient tim ...
.
History
It is mentioned only by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
(vi. 21), from whom we learn that it was, as well as Laüs, a colony of
Sybaris
Sybaris ( grc, Σύβαρις; it, Sibari) was an important city of Magna Graecia. It was situated in modern Calabria, in southern Italy, between two rivers, the Crathis (Crati) and the Sybaris (Coscile).
The city was founded in 720 BC ...
, and was one of the places to which the surviving inhabitants of that city retired, after its destruction by the Crotoniats. It does not appear from his expressions whether these towns were then first founded by the fugitives, or had been previously settled as regular colonies; but the latter supposition is much the more probable. It is singular that no subsequent trace is found of Scidrus; its name is never again mentioned in history, nor alluded to by the geographers, with the exception of
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
(''s. v.''), who calls it merely a city of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. We have therefore no clue to its position; for even its situation on the Tyrrhenian Sea is a mere inference from the manner in which it is mentioned by Herodotus in conjunction with Laüs. But there exist at
Sapri
Sapri is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is one of the southernmost towns of the region of Cilento and its population is 6,783.Policastro.
See also
*
List of ancient Greek cities
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...