Greece, Early Archaic Period, Southern Italy:  Greek Cities; Ischia, Cumae, Sybaris and Croton

Ischia (Pithecusae)

The island of Ischia lies about thirty kilometres from the city of Naples. Greek colonisation of Sicily and southern Italy began during the eighth century BC. In c.775 BC the first such settlement was established at Pithecusae on Ischia by Chalcidians and Eretrians. Throughout the second half of the eighth century BC it served as a vital staging post for trade with Etruria and access to the metal-rich region of northwest Tuscany. By the late 700s BC Pithecusae had been largely abandoned; one cause may have been the Lelantine War. 

Cumae

In c.740 BC Euboeans founded Cumae on the mainland opposite Pithecusae. It was the earliest colony on the Italian mainland and dominated coastal Campania from c.700 to 474 BC, founding in turn Zancle (=Messana; c.730 BC), Neapolis (=Naples; c.600 BC) and Dicaearchia (=Puteoli; c.531 BC).

In 524 BC a Cumaean aristocrat Aristodemus (c.60; r.504-c.490 BC) checked Etruscan advance into Campania. In c.505 BC he combined forces with the Latins and defeated an Etruscan army led by Arruns, the son of Lars Porsenna, at Aricia. Aristodemus returned to Cumae and succeeded in making himself tyrant. To gain popularity he abolished the oligarchy. Later he harboured Tarquinius Superbus (r.535-509; d.495 BC) after the Battle of Lake Regillus (c.496 BC). Aristodemus was eventually overthrown by a new generation of aristocrats who reinstated aristocratic rule.

Sybaris and Croton

In antiquity Calabria, the long narrow peninsula that forms the ‘toe’ of southern Italy, was known as Bruttium: Chalcis founded Rhegium on the southern tip of the peninsula (c.730-c.720 BC; and Achaea founded Sybaris (c.720 BC) on the ‘instep’, Croton (c.708 BC) on the ‘sole’ and Metapontum (c.650 BC) on the ‘arch’ of the southern coast.

Around 570 BC, together with Croton and Metapontum, Sybaris destroyed Siris (a colony founded by Colophon c.680 BC). In the final years of the sixth century BC civil strife in Sybaris gave the Crotoniates the opportunity to strike against their powerful neighbour. In 510 BC Sybaris suffered an irremediable defeat. The Crotoniates plundered the city and laid it to waste. One source says that the site was then obliterated by diverting the Crathis River over it.