Magna Graecia was the historical Greek-speaking area of southern Italy. It encompassed the modern Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were extensively settled by Greeks beginning in the 8th century BC.
Initially founded by their metropoleis (mother cities), the settlements evolved into independent and powerful Greek city-states (poleis). The settlers brought with them Hellenic civilization, which over time developed distinct local forms due to both their distance from Greece and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. This interaction left a lasting imprint on Italy, including on Roman culture. The Greek settlers also influenced native groups such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, many of whom adopted Greek culture and became Hellenized. In areas like architecture and urban planning, the colonies sometimes surpassed the achievements of the motherland. The ancient inhabitants of Magna Graecia are referred to as Italiotes and Siceliotes.
Ruins of several cities from Magna Graecia remain visible today, including Neàpolis ("New City", now Naples), Syrakousai (Syracuse), Akragas (Agrigento), Taras (Taranto), Rhegion (Reggio Calabria), and Kroton (Crotone). The most populous city was Sybaris (now Sibari), with an estimated population of between 300,000 and 500,000, from 600 to 510 BC.
Governments in these city-states were typically aristocratic, and the cities often engaged in warfare with one another. Their independence came to an end during the Second Punic War, when they were annexed by the Roman Republic in 205 BC.
Despite the political changes, cultural life in Magna Graecia flourished. Greek art, literature, and philosophy had a decisive influence on the region, especially in cities like Taras. South Italian Greek pottery, particularly from the 4th century BC, is a notable cultural contribution. Settlers from Magna Graecia also achieved great success in the Ancient Olympic Games—athletes from Crotone alone won 18 titles over 25 Olympiads.
Though ancient authors use "Magna Graecia" to mean different parts of southern Italy, including or excluding Sicily, definitions that included Sicily failed to gain widespread acceptance, as evidenced by the continued usage of the term referring exclusively to the Greek cities of southern Italy spanning the coast between Cumae and Taras.
Although most Greek inhabitants of Magna Graecia were fully Latinized during the Middle Ages, traces of Greek language and culture persisted. The Griko people of Calabria (Bovesia) and Salento (Grecìa Salentina) still maintain aspects of their Greek heritage, including the Griko language. This language is the last living trace of the once-vibrant Greek presence in Magna Graecia.
Terminology
The original Greek expression Megálē Hellás (), later translated into Latin as , is attested for the first time in a passage from the 2nd century BC by the Greek historian PolybiusPolybius, The Histories, II 39, 1-6- (written around 150 BC), where he ascribed the term to Pythagoras and his philosophical school.Polybius, ii. 39.A. J. Graham, "The colonial expansion of Greece", in John Boardman et al., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. III, part 3, p. 94.
Ancient authors used "Magna Graecia" to mean different parts of southern Italy,Kathryn Lomas, Aspects of the Relationship between Rome and the Greek Cities of Southern Italy and Campania during the Republic and Early Empire, Thesis L3473, Newcastle University, 1989 http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/744 p. 9-10Calderon, S. "La Conquista Romana di Magna Grecia. " ACTH 15,1975, 30-81Justin 20.1 including or excluding Sicily; Strabo and Livy being the most prominent advocates of the wider definitions. Originally, the geographical area referred to as Magna Graecia most likely centered around the coast extending from Lokroi to Metapontum. Later authors expanded this definition to include all areas united under the Italiote League, then dominated by Taras. Some Roman authors, most prominently Strabo and Livy, advocated for wider definitions, which included Sicily. Strabo used the term to refer to the territory that had been conquered by the Greeks.Strabo 6.1.2 Definitions that included Sicily failed to gain widespread acceptance, as evidenced by the continued usage of the term referring exclusively to the Greek cities of southern Italy spanning the coast between Cumae and Taras.
There are various hypotheses on the origin of the name Megálē Hellás. The term could be explained by the prosperity and cultural and economic splendour of the region (6th–5th century BC); notably by the Achaeans of the city of Kroton, to refer to the network of colonies they founded or controlled between the end of the 6th and mid-5th centuries at the time of the Pythagoreans.
Context
There were several reasons for the Greeks to establish overseas colonies; demographic crises (famine, overcrowding, etc.), stasis, a developing need for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland after wars.
During the Archaic period, the Greek population grew beyond the capacity of the limited arable land of Greece proper, resulting in the large-scale establishment of colonies elsewhere: according to one estimate, the population of the widening area of Greek settlement increased roughly tenfold from 800 BC to 400 BC, from 800,000 to as many as -10 million.Population of the Greek city-states This was not simply for trade, but also to found settlements. These Greek colonies were not, as Roman colonies were, dependent on their mother-city, but were independent city-states in their own right.
Another reason was the strong economic growth with the consequent overpopulation of the motherland. The terrain that some of these Greek city-states were in could not support a large city. Politics was also the reason as refugees from Greek city-states tended to settle away from these cities in the colonies.
Greeks settled outside of Greece in two distinct ways. The first was in permanent settlements founded by the Greeks, which formed as independent poleis. The second form was in what historians refer to as emporia; trading posts which were occupied by both Greeks and non-Greeks and which were primarily concerned with the manufacture and sale of goods. Examples of this latter type of settlement are found at Al Mina in the east and Pithekoussai in the west.
From about 750 BC the Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions.
History Greek colonisation
According to Strabo's Geographica, the colonisation of Magna Graecia had already begun by the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries.
Greeks began to settle in southern Italy in the 8th century BC. Their first great migratory wave was by the Euboeans aimed at the Gulf of Naples (Pithecusae, Cumae) and the Strait of Messina (Zancle, Rhegium).STEFANIA DE VIDO 'Capitani coraggiosi'. Gli Eubei nel Mediterraneo C. Bearzot, F. Landucci, in Tra il mare e il continente: l'isola d'Eubea (2013) ISBN 978-88-343-2634-3 Pithecusae on the island of Ischia is considered the oldest Greek settlement in Italy, and Cumae their first colony on the mainland of Italy.
The second wave was of the Achaeans who concentrated initially on the Ionian coast (Metapontion, Poseidonia, Sybaris, Kroton),Strabo 6.1.12Herodotus 8.47 shortly before 720BC. At an unknown date between the 8th and 6th centuries BC the Athenians, of Ionian lineage, founded Scylletium (near today's Catanzaro).Strabo, Geographica, 6.1.10
With colonisation, Greek culture was exported to Italy with its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, and its traditions of the independent polis. An original Hellenic civilization soon developed, and later interacted with the native Italic civilisations. The most important cultural transplant was the Chalcidean/Cumaean variety of the Greek alphabet, which was adopted by the Etruscans; the Old Italic alphabet subsequently evolved into the Latin alphabet, which became the most widely used alphabet in the world.
Remains of some of these Greek colonies can be seen today, such as those of Neapolis ('new city', now Naples), Syracusae (Syracuse), Akragas (Agrigento), Taras (Taranto), and Rhegion (Reggio Calabria).
Secondary colonisation Over time, due to overpopulation and other political and commercial reasons, the new cities expanded their presence in Italy by founding other Greek cities; effectively expanding the Greek civilisation to the whole territory known today as Magna Graecia.
An intense colonisation program was undertaken by Syracuse, at the time of the tyranny of Dionysius I of Syracuse, around 387–385 BC. This phenomenon affected the entire Adriatic coast, and in particular led to the foundation in Italy of Ancón (now Ancona) and Adria; in the Dalmatian coast he saw the foundation of Issa (current Vis), Pharos (Stari Grad), Dimos (Hvar); Lissos (now Lezhë) was founded on the Albanian coast. Issa in turn then founded Tragurium (now Trogir), Melaina Corcyra (now Korčula) and Epetium (now Stobreč, a suburb of Split).
Rhegium (now Reggio Calabria) founded Pyxus (Policastro Bussentino) in Lucania; Locri founded Medma (Rosarno), Polyxena and Hipponium (Vibo Valentia) in present-day Calabria; Sybaris (now Sibari) revitalised the indigenous centres of Laüs and Scydrus in Calabria and founded Poseidonia (Paestum), in Campania; Kroton (now Crotone) founded Terina and participated in the foundation of Caulonia (near Monasterace marina) in Calabria; Messana (now Messina), in collaboration with Rhegium, founded Metaurus (Gioia Tauro); Taras together with Thurii founded Heracleia (Policoro) in Lucania in 434 BC, and also Callipolis ('beautiful city').
Expansion and conflict
At the beginning of the 6th century BC, all the main cities of Magna Graecia on the Ionian Sea had achieved a high economic and cultural development, which shifted their interests towards expansion of their territory by waging war on neighbouring cities. The 6th century was therefore characterised by great clashes between the colonies. Some of the clashes that established the new balance and the new relationships of force were the Battle of the Sagra river (the clash between Locri Epizefiri and Kroton), the destruction of Siris (by Sybaris and Metapontum), and the clash between Kroton and Sybaris (which ended with the destruction of the latter).Arte seconda - la colonizzazione e il periodo Greco, capitolo III, Il VI secolo e lo scontro con Crotone, Battaglia Della Sagra, https://www.locriantica.it/storia/per_greco3.htm
As with all the events of this period precise dates are unknown, but the destruction of Sybaris may have occurred around 510 BC, while the two other clashes are placed around 580–560 BC, with the destruction of Siris before the Battle of the Sagra.
Roman era
The first Greek city to be absorbed into the Roman Republic was Neàpolis in 327BC.
At the beginning of the 3rd century, Rome was a great power but had not yet entered into conflict with most of Magna Graecia, which had been allies of the Samnites. However, the needs of the Roman populace determined their need for territorial expansion towards the south.Musti, Domenico (1990). "La spinta verso il Sud: espansione romana e rapporti "internazionali"". Storia di Roma. Vol. I. P 536. Turin: Einaudi. ISBN 978-88-06-11741-2 As the Greek cities of southern Italy came under threat from the Bruttii and Lucanians from the end of the 4th century BC, they asked for help from Rome, which exploited this opportunity by sending military garrisons in the 280s BC.DMITRIEV, S. (2017). The Status of Greek Cities in Roman Reception and Adaptation. Hermes, 145(2), 195–209. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26650396
Following Rome's victory over Taras after the Pyrrhic War in 272BC, most of the cities of southern Italy were linked to Rome with pacts and treaties (foedera) which sanctioned a sort of indirect control.