“A crowd of people, workers, clerks and managers walk quickly at the streets of Napoli, of Messene, of Syracuse and Tarant. Computers control the flow of the economy and in the city harbours ocean liners and oil tankers of a thousand tons moor, while from their airports many airplanes take off, with hundreds of passengers.

The hasty visitor of our era cannot perhaps even think about that distant moment in time when the coasts were still unpolluted, filled with rich forests; the time when ships ready to fall apart would anchor after a long, tedious journey, to unload groups of young soldiers who walked cautiously towards the deserted beach, afraid that at any moment the dreadful outcry of the native soldiers attempting to repel them would echo through the woods, depriving them once and for all of the dream of a new country.

They carried a knife with them, from their old country and ashes from the holy fire that had burned at the acropolis of their homeland, hoping that they would be able to create new hearths, to build new homes where new, foreign wives would live, taken by force or seduced with gifts and they would bear them children with new, unspoiled blood in their veins.

Valerio Manfredi, The Western Greeks

The Doric temple of Taranto dedicated to Poseidon(?), one of the few preserved monuments of the ancient city, famous for its wealth and size. The two columns are situated on the islet that was the acropolis of the city.

The Myceneans had settled in the Apulian region at the end of the second millennium B.C. As the region was inhabited by the natives Messapians and Iapyges, there was only one colony created, Taranto, the sole colony of the Lacedaemonians (henceforth: Spartans). The Spartans preferred to extend their territory by conquering their neighbours rather than emigrating. At the time when the Eyboeans and the Corinthians travelled to the West in search of new places for settlement, the Spartans fought against their Messinian neighbours for almost 20 years in order to occupy their land (First Messinian War, 743-724 B.C.). The city of Taranto was founded in 706 B.C. by the Spartan Phalanthus and the Parthenians.

Taranto collided with the natives Messapians and, even though the Tarantians (or Tarentines) lost their first battles, they prevailed and offered many offerings to the Oracle of Delphi (First quarter of the 5th century B.C.)

Commemorating their victory over the Messapians, the Tarantians, holding one tenth of their loot, dedicated to Delphi, a monument of the sculptor Ageladas that depicted captured women and horses. The monument dating to the beginning of the 5th century (approximately 485 B.C.) was in a prominent place, left of the Hiera Odos. Today, only its base is preserved (red square).

Pausanias (10. 10.6-8) during his visit to Delphi in the 2^nd century A.D. describes the historical course of the foundation of Taranto and the Tarantians’ monument of the Tarantians:  

Reconstruction of Delphi and the location of the Tarantian monument (red square) © Delphi, Ekdotiki Athinon Publications

The bronze horses and captive women dedicated by the Tarentines were made from spoils taken from the Messapians, a non-Greek people bordering on the territory of Tarentum, and are works of Ageladas the Argive. Tarentum is a colony of the Lacedaemonians, and its founder was Phalanthus, a Spartan. On setting out to found a colony, Phalanthus received an oracle from Delphi, declaring that when he should feel rain under a cloudless sky (aethra), he would then win both a territory and a city.

 [7] At first, he neither examined the oracle himself nor informed one of his interpreters, but came to Italy with his ships. But when, although he won victories over the barbarians, he succeeded neither in taking a city nor in making himself master of a territory, he called to mind the oracle, and thought that the god had foretold an impossibility. For, never could rain fall from a clear and cloudless sky. When he was in despair, his wife, who had accompanied him from home, among other endearments placed her husband's head between her knees and began to pick out the lice. And it chanced that the wife, such was her affection, wept as she saw her husband's fortunes coming to nothing.

[8] As her tears fell in showers, and she wetted the head of Phalanthus, he realized the meaning of the oracle, for his wife's name was Aethra. And so on that night he took from the barbarians Tarentum, the largest and most prosperous city on the coast. They say that Taras the hero was a son of Poseidon by a nymph of the country, and that after this hero were named both the city and the river. For the river, just like the city, is called Taras. [Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A.]

Archytas

The city of Taranto (Taras) was built on the cape that blocks the mouth of the two lagoons. The city extended up to 570 hectares. At the end of the 5^th century, democracy prevailed in Taranto which reached its peak under the administration of the philosopher Archytas of Tarentum. There were two famous statues of Hercules and Zeus at the city’s agora. The statue of Zeus was the tallest statue of the Mediterranean world, reaching a height of 18 meters. The wealth of the city had gradually led to the decline of its power, and the Tarantians, who lived abundantly, would call military troops from Sparta and Epirus to battle with their neighbors, the Messapians and the Leukanians who were a constant threat.

During the conflicts with the Romans and the neighboring city of Thourioi, the Tarantians called for the king of Epirus, Pyrros. He arrived, bringing some elephants among other weapons, which terrorized the Romans who subsequently lost the first battles; they soon regrouped and prevailed, while Pyrros, fled to Epirus.  The final destruction of the city took place in 209 B.C. when the Tarantians attempted to recover the administration of their city with the alliance they made with the Carthaginians. The Romans took over Taranto and looted the city, transporting a large part of the loot to Rome, including the famous, tall statue of Hercules. This statue was transported to Istanbul and during the occupation of the Francs in 1204 it was melt in order to become coins.

In the centuries that followed, the city of Taranto was in decline; it also had to survive pirate attacks, who forced the inhabitants of the city to withdraw to the interior of the country. The revival of the city’s port started during the short period of the French occupation at the beginning of the 19^th century.

Mare Picollo and the islet of the acropolis of ancient Taras. The bridge connects the city with the islet and leads to the open bay of Taras (Mare Grande)

Ancient Taras (picture © by Valerio M. Manfredi, Greeks of the West). The dotted line shows the boundaries of the city’s walls.	The city of Taranto today. The Little Sea (Mare Piccolo) proved to be an important incentive for the settlement of the Spartans, since the bay of Taranto is generally harbourless. The red circle defines the boundaries of the ancient city, buried under the contemporary one. The blue arrow points out the position of the Doric temple from which only two columns are preserved.

Strabo has an extensive description of the area of modern Apulia, inhabited by the Messapians and by the Iapyges in the north, as well as of the city of Taranto.  He also describes the founding of the city of Taranto by Phalanthus and the Parthenians extensively; he uses the words of the historian Ephorus who lived in the 4^th century B.C. but only a few excerpts of his work are saved.

Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus. His mother was Georgian. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome. He was philosophically a Stoic and politically a proponent of Roman imperialism. Later he made extensive travels to Egypt and Kush, among others. It is not known when his Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around AD 7, others around 18. Several different dates have been proposed for Strabo's death, but most of them place it shortly after 23. The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving.

Strabo, Geography, 6.3. “Now that I have traversed the regions of Old Italy as far as Metapontium, I must speak of those that border on them. And Iapygia borders on them. The Greeks call it Messapia also, but the natives, dividing it into two parts, call one part (that about the Iapygian Cape) the country of the Salentini, and the other the country of the Calabri. Above these latter, on the north, are the Peucetii and also those people who in the Greek language are called Daunii, but the natives give the name Apulia to the whole country that comes after that of the Calabri, though some of them, particularly the Peucetii, are called Poedicli also. Messapia forms a sort of peninsula, since it is enclosed by the isthmus that extends from Brentesium as far as Taras, three hundred and ten stadia. And the voyage thither around the Iapygian Cape is, all told, about four hundred stadia. The distance from Metapontium is about two hundred and twenty stadia, and the voyage to it is towards the rising sun. But though the whole Tarantine Gulf, generally speaking, is harborless, yet at the city there is a very large and beautiful harbor, which is enclosed by a large bridge and is one hundred stadia in circumference. In that part of the harbor which lies towards the innermost recess, the harbor with the outer sea, forms an isthmus, and therefore the city is situated on a peninsula; and since the neck of land is low-lying, the ships are easily hauled overland from either side. The ground of the city, too, is low-lying, but still it is slightly elevated where the acropolis is. The old wall has a large circuit, but at the present time the greater part of the city—the part that is near the isthmus—has been forsaken, but the part that is near the mouth of the harbor, where the acropolis is, still endures and makes up a city of noteworthy size. And it has a very beautiful gymnasium, and also a spacious market-place, in which is situated the bronze colossus of Zeus, the largest in the world except the one that belongs to the Rhodians. Between the marketplace and the mouth of the harbor is the acropolis, which has but few remnants of the dedicated objects that, in early times, adorned it, for most of them were either destroyed by the Carthaginians, when they took the city, or carried off as booty by the Romans, when they took the place by storm. Among this booty is the Heracles in the Capitol, a colossal bronze statue, the work of Lysippus, dedicated by Maximus Fabius, who captured the city.

Coin (stater) of Taranto, 4th century B.C. The mythical colonist Taras is depicted on a dolphin. According to the myth, Taras was the son of Poseidon and of a local nymph, Satyria.

In speaking of the founding of Taras, Antiochus says: After the Messenian war broke out, those of the Lacedaemonians, who did not take part in the expedition, were adjudged slaves and were named Helots, and all children who were born in the time of the expedition, were called Partheniae and judicially deprived of the rights of citizenship, but they would not tolerate this, and since they were numerous, formed a plot against the free citizens; and when the latter learned of the plot they sent secretly certain men who, through a pretence of friendship, were to report what manner of plot it was; among these was Phalanthus, who was reputed to be their champion, but he was not pleased, in general, with those who had been named to take part in the council. It was agreed, however, that the attack should be made at the Hyacinthian festival in the Amyclaeum when the games were being celebrated, at the moment when Phalanthus should put on his leather cap (the free citizens were recognizable by their hair); but when Phalanthus and his men had secretly reported the agreement, and when the games were in progress, the herald came forward and forbade Phalanthus to put on a leather cap; and when the plotters perceived that the plot had been revealed, some of them began to run away and others to beg for mercy; but they were bidden to be of good cheer and were given over to custody; Phalanthus, however, was sent to the temple of the god to consult with reference to founding a colony; and the god responded, "I give to thee Satyrium⁸, both to take up thine abode in the rich land of Taras and to become a bane to the Iapygians." Accordingly, the Partheniae went thither with Phalanthus, and they were welcomed by both the barbarians and the Cretans who had previously taken possession of the place. These latter, it is said, are the people who sailed with Minos to Sicily, and, after his death, which occurred at the home of Cocalus in Camici, set sail from Sicily; but on the voyage back they were driven out of their course to Taras, although later some of them went afoot around the Adrias as far as Macedonia and were called Bottiaeans. But all the people as far as Daunia, it is said, were called Iapyges, after Iapyx, who is said to have been the son of Daedalus by a Cretan woman and to have been the leader of the Cretans. The city of Taras, however, was named after some hero.

The walls of the city of Mandyrion (Manduria). Mandyrion was the eastern boundary of the Tarantian prevalence. The city was protected by a triple row of walls. Under these walls, the king of Sparta Archidamus was killed; he had come to the city from Sparta in 338 B.C. when the Tarantians requested his help.

But, Ephorus describes the founding of the city thus: The Lacedaemonians were at war with the Messenians because the latter had killed their king Teleclus when he went to Messene to offer sacrifice, and they swore that they would not return home again until they either destroyed Messene or were all killed; and when they set out on the expedition, they left behind the youngest and the oldest of the citizens to guard the city; but later on, in the tenth year of the war, the Lacedaemonian women met together and sent certain of their own number to make complaint to their husbands that they were carrying on the war with the Messenians on unequal terms, for the Messenians, staying in their own country, were begetting children, whereas they, having abandoned their wives to widowhood, were on an expedition in the country of the enemy, and they complained that the fatherland was in danger of being in want of men; and the Lacedaemonians, both keeping their oath and at the same time bearing in mind the argument of the women, sent the men who were most vigorous and at the same time youngest, for they knew that these had not taken part in the oaths, because they were still children when they went out to war along with the men who were of military age; and they ordered them to cohabit with the maidens, every man with every maiden, thinking that thus the maidens would bear many more children; and when this was done, the children were named Partheniae. But as for Messene, it was captured after a war of nineteen years, as Tyrtaeus says: "About it they fought for nineteen years, relentlessly, with heart ever steadfast, did the fathers of our fathers, spearmen they; and in the twentieth the people forsook their fertile farms and fled from the great mountains of Ithome." Now the Lacedaemonians divided up Messenia among themselves, but when they came back home they would not honor the Partheniae with civic rights like the rest, on the ground that they had been born out of wedlock; and the Partheniae, leaguing with the Helots, formed a plot against the Lacedaemonians and agreed to raise a Laconian cap in the market-place as a signal for the attack. But though some of the Helots had revealed the plot, the Lacedaemonians decided that it would be difficult to make a counter-attack against them, for the Helots were not only numerous but were all of one mind, regarding themselves as virtually brothers of one another, and merely charged those who were about to raise the signal to go away from the marketplace. So the plotters, on learning that the undertaking had been betrayed, held back, and the Lacedaemonians persuaded them, through the influence of their fathers, to go forth and found a colony, and if the place they took possession of sufficed them, to stay there, but if not, to come on back and divide among themselves the fifth part of Messenia. And they, thus sent forth, found the Achaeans at war with the barbarians, took part in their perils, and founded Taras. [Translated by H. L. Jones.]

(8) Satyrium was the cape of Italy, where contemporary Puglia (Apulia) is found.


For the march of Archidamus in Southern Italy, Diodorus Siculus states (XVI, 63):

[..] At the same period,⁹ the Tarantians were at war with the Leukanians and had sent their ancestors, the Lacedaemonians, as ambassadors, seeking for military aid. The Spartans were more than willing to assist, due to their kinship and have brought together in a haste their navy and infantry and as their ruler they placed their own king, Archidamus. As they were about to embark on Italy, the Lyctians¹⁰ pleaded with them, to go to their aid first. The Lacedaemonians were convinced and parted for Crete, where they defeated the mercenaries and restored the Lyctians to their own land again… Subsequently, Archidamus set sail for Italy, where he joined forces with the Tarantians, but, alas, died in a battle, after a brave fight¹¹. He was a man of great praise for his strategic qualities and for his life in general, who had only been dispraised for being in league with the Phoceans, as the one begetting the capture of Delphi. Archidamus was king of Lacedaemonians for twenty - three years.

(9) In 338 B.C., the battle of Chaironeia took also place; the Macedonians of Philip and of Alexander the Great prevailed over the coalition of the Greeks of Southern Greece.
(10) Lyctos: city of Crete conquered by the Phocaean Phalaikos.
(11) Plutarch in the Life of the Spartan king Agis, who succeeded Archidamus (360-338 B.C.), mentions that the death of Archidamus occurred at the city of Mandyrion.



The ancient city of Taranto has been covered up by the modern city, but the excavations in the city and the surrounding area, have brought to light unique findings which clearly reflect the cultural and social standards of the city. The art in the Apulian region has surpassed even the Greek standards, creating unique impressive forms, with pioneering artistic creations. These findings are exhibited at the Museum of the city of Taranto.

Artifacts from the city of Taranto and the Apulian region, exhibited at the Museum of Taranto.

Taranto was unable to extend to the east since the Messapians blocked their prevalence. The city in an effort to preserve its interests, built a fortification wall around the Gallipoli peninsula, at the entrance of the bay of Taranto. The city, according to Pliny belonged to the Messapians and was called Anxa. After its occupation by the Tarantians in 265 B.C., it was conquered by the Romans, while in the centuries that followed in the Christian era, the city shared the same fate with the rest of Apulia.

The peninsula of Gallipoli at the entrance of the bay of Taras (Taranto) was a colony of the Tarantians in an effort to maintain control of the bay area.	At the entrance of the peninsula, there is an impressive fountain of the Hellenistic period.

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