Ancient Greek Cities in Italy -
Magna Graecia.
Explore the virtual streets of the original
Greek colonies of
Italy, and experience
the creation of the Magna Graecia.
http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/maggrecia
.html
http://news
.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4116006.stm
Magna Græcia (
Latin meaning "
Great Greece",
Greek: Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς,
Megálē Hellás) is the name of the coastal areas of
Southern Italy on the
Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum,
Croton, and
Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of
Cumae and
Neapolis to the north. The colonists, who began arriving in the
8th century BC, brought with them their
Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, particularly on the culture of ancient
Rome.
Antiquity
Main article: Greek colonies ("apoikiai")
In the eighth and seventh centuries BC, for various reasons, including demographic crisis (famine, overcrowding, etc.), the search for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland,
Greeks began to settle in southern Italy (Cerchiai, pp. 14--18). Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the
Black Sea,
Eastern Libya and
Massalia (
Marseille). They included settlements in
Sicily and the southern part of the
Italian Peninsula.
The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy Magna Graecia (Latin, "Great Greece"), since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks. The ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely
Apulia and Calabria —
Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions.
With this colonization,
Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the
Ancient Greek language, its religious rites and its traditions of the independent polis.
An original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting 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.
Many of the new
Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis (Νεάπολις,
Naples, "
New City"),
Syracuse, Acragas, and Sybaris (Σύβαρις). Other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum (Τάρας),
Epizephyrian Locri (Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι),
Rhegium (Ῥήγιον), Croton (Κρότων),
Thurii (Θούριοι), Elea (Ἐλέα),
Nola (Νῶλα),
Ancona (Ἀγκών), Syessa (Σύεσσα),
Bari (Βάριον), and others.
Following the
Pyrrhic War in the
3rd century BC, Magna Graecia was absorbed into the
Roman Republic.
The Middle Ages
During the
Early Middle Ages, following the disastrous
Gothic War, new waves of
Byzantine Christian Greeks came to Southern Italy from Greece and
Asia Minor, as Southern Italy remained loosely governed by the
Eastern Roman Empire. The iconoclast emperor
Leo III appropriated lands that had been granted to the
Papacy in southern Italy[2] and the
Eastern Emperor loosely governed the area until the advent of the Lombards then, in the form of the
Catapanate of Italy, superseded by the
Normans.
A remarkable example of this influence is the Griko-speaking minority which still exists today in the
Italian regions of
Calabria and
Apulia.
Griko is the name of a language combining ancient Doric,
Byzantine Greek, and
Italian elements, spoken by few people in some villages in the
Province of Reggio Calabria and
Salento. There is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now, though once numerous, to around 30,
000 people most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element
. Some believe that the origins of the
Griko language may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia.
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- published: 24 Aug 2012
- views: 12703