Sybaris

Ancient Greek city in southern Italy on the Gulf of Tarentum, known for its wealth and the luxury it enjoyed, contributing to the modern meaning of sybaritic. Founded c 720 BC by Achaeans and Troezenians it became prosperous quickly. It was destroyed by Croton (510 and c 448 BC) and then rebuilt a third time with Athenian help. A new settlement Thurii was founded in 443 BC by Pericles of Athens. The Sybarites who were then expelled founded a fourth Sybaris farther south on the Traeis (Trionto) River. After the Punic Wars a Roman colony named Copia was established at Thurii and occupation seems to have continued until the 4th century AD. The original Sybaris founded other colonies notably Paestum. Pottery and structural evidence supports occupation from the 8th century BC; from Copia there remains an early imperial theater and some residences.

Early Greek colonial settlement (perhaps 8th century bc) on the Ionian Gulf in Calabria, southern Italy, proverbial later for the luxury and decadence of its inhabitants, and destroyed by rival Croton in about 510 bc. A new settlement, Thurii, was founded in 443 bc by Pericles of Athens and a group of surviving Sybarites, apparently not on a different site as stated by traditional sources, but over the southern area of the earlier city. After the Punic Wars, a Roman colonia named Copia was established at Thurii, and occupation seems to have continued until the 4th century ad. Original Sybaris founded daughter colonies, notably at Paestum, had widespread trading connections, and issued its own coins. The site was finally identified in the 1960s, and excavations have been made difficult by the degree to which the plain of Crati has sunk below today’s sea-level (probably since the Roman period), the presence of metres of silty deposit overlying the ancient evidence, and the constant need for the pumping-out of work which is below the current water table. Pottery and structural evidence supports occupation from the 8th century bc, and for Roman Copia there is an early imperial theatre and some residential material.