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| Taras (Tarentum) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Taras (Tarentum) |
| Other name | Tarentum |
| Settlement type | Ancient Greek colony |
| Established | c. 706–706 BC |
| Founder | Spartan settlers |
| Region | Magna Graecia |
Taras (Tarentum) was an ancient Greek colony on the Ionian coast of southern Italy, founded by Spartan settlers in the late eighth century BC and later becoming a principal polis of Magna Graecia, the Roman Republic, and the Byzantine Empire. The city played pivotal roles in the conflicts among Sparta, Athens, Carthage, Rome, and later Byzantium, and its fortunes are recorded in sources associated with Herodotus, Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus and Livy. Taras' material culture influenced and was influenced by neighboring communities such as Syracuse, Neapolis (Naples), Paestum, Metapontum, and the indigenous Bruttii and Lucania groups.
The name Taras appears in ancient Greek and Latin sources and was associated with the eponymous hero Taras of Spartan myth, son of Poseidon and a local nymph, who was celebrated in iconography and coinage alongside connections to the city of Sparta, the maritime traditions of Rhodes, and the foundation legends recorded by Pseudo-Apollodorus. Roman authors including Virgil, Ovid, Pliny the Elder and Strabo use the Latinized form Tarentum while Greek writers such as Pausanias and Aristotle employ Greek morphology; later medieval and Renaissance texts by Procopius and Dante Alighieri continued to reference Tarentum/Taras within networks linked to Constantinople, Normandy, and Sicily.
Taras was founded c. 706–706 BC by colonists from Sparta and became one of the wealthiest Greek cities in Magna Graecia, contemporaneous with Corinth, Ephesus, Miletus, and Syracuse. In the Classical period Taras allied against Athens during the Peloponnesian War and figures such as Archilochus and the poet Pindar reference Tarentine athletic and naval prestige; later tensions with Carthage and local Italic peoples culminated in conflicts described by Timaeus of Tauromenium and later reconstructions by Diodorus Siculus. The city fell into confrontation with Rome during the Pyrrhic War when Tarentine appeals involved Pyrrhus of Epirus and prompted Roman campaigns documented by Livy and Cassius Dio; subsequent integration into the Roman polity saw Tarentum appear in sources concerning the Second Punic War, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, and municipal reforms under the Lex Iulia. Under the Late Antiquity and Byzantine periods Tarentum featured in narratives about the Gothic War, Belisarius, and later Norman conquest contexts involving Robert Guiscard and the Kingdom of Sicily.
Taras occupied a harbor-rich site on the Ionian Sea coast of the Salento peninsula, strategically situated near the Gulf of Taranto and at maritime crossroads linking Adriatic Sea routes to Sicily and the wider western Mediterranean network including Massalia, Cartagena (Carthago Nova), and Cumae. The urban topography included a fortified acropolis, extensive civic quarters, shipyards reminiscent of Athenian naval facilities, and agricultural hinterlands producing grain and olive oil comparable to yields recorded in Syracuse and Metapontum; the surrounding environment featured karstic limestone, Mediterranean maquis and wetlands analogous to those of Brindisi and Ostia Antica.
Tarentine society combined Spartan-derived institutions with local Italic influences, producing elites engaged in pan-Hellenic networks that included athletes competing at the Olympic Games, poets corresponding with Pindar and Simonides, and artisans exchanging styles with workshops in Corinth, Syracuse, Aegina, and Attica. Civic life featured theaters, agoras, and sanctuaries comparable to those in Delphi, Olympia, and Ephesus; the city’s political and social structures are referenced alongside figures like Alcibiades and poleis involved in the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League. Taras was a center for pottery, metalwork, and coinage that disseminated motifs parallel to those in Rhodes, Miletus, Sicily, and Campania.
Taras’ economy was maritime and agricultural, integrating into Mediterranean trade circuits that connected Massalia, Carthage, Rome, Syracuse, Corinth, Ephesus, Alexandria, and Ptolemaic Egypt. Exports included grain, olive oil, wool, and luxury ceramics akin to Attic pottery and locally produced Tarentine red-figure wares; imports encompassed luxury goods from Phoenicia, metallurgical inputs from Etruria, and amphorae from Carthage and Rhodes. The city’s coinage, bearing mythic imagery linked to Taras and Poseidon, circulated in markets alongside currency from Syracuse, Neapolis, and Carthage and is attested in hoards studied in contexts associated with Numismatics and Mediterranean trade studies.
Religious life in Taras combined Hellenic cults and local practices centered on sanctuaries dedicated to Poseidon, Apollo, and Demeter as well as hero cults of Taras himself. Ritual patterns, festival practices, and oracular connections paralleled institutions at Delphi, Olympia, and Eleusis; mythography links Taras’ foundation to narratives involving Heracles, Theseus, and wider Spartan foundation myths preserved by Hesiod and later compiled by Apollodorus. Iconography on votive offerings and coins reflects syncretic devotion with Italic deities and practices observable in nearby sites like Paestum and Metapontum.
Archaeological remains at the Tarentine site include urban fortifications, necropoleis, temple foundations, theater remains, and ceramics that demonstrate contacts with Corinthian pottery, Attic red-figure, Etruscan metallurgy, and Punic material culture. Excavations have been interpreted in scholarship alongside studies by Giovanni Battista Piranesi-era antiquarians, 19th-century travelers such as Edward Dodwell, and modern archaeologists linked to institutions like the British School at Rome and Italian Soprintendenza Archeologica. Taras’ legacy persisted through medieval chronicles, Renaissance revivals that invoked classical Tarentine motifs in works by Petrarch and Boccaccio, and modern scholarship in classical archaeology, ancient history, and numismatics; material culture from Taras is displayed in museums with collections comparable to those of the British Museum, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto, and the Louvre.
Category:Ancient Greek colonies in Apulia Category:Magna Graecia