A city at the head of the Ionian Sea in southern Italy, first occupied by a Neolithic village with Serra d'Alto ware. This was succeeded by the Apennine culture, to which around 1250 BC was added a colony of Mycenaeans. Trade up the Adriatic continued after the fall of Mycenaean Greece, distributing Terramara bronzework from northern Italy. In the 8th century BC (traditional date 706), Greek settlers from Sparta and Laconia conquered the Messapian village and founded the new Taras on the peninsula. It soon became one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia and its inhabitants founded several other coastal cities. Taranto reached the peak of power and prosperity in the 4th century BC under Archytas. The city then suffered in a series of wars, culminating in its submission to Rome in 272 BC. During the Second Punic War, it fell into the hands of the Carthaginian general Hannibal but was recaptured and plundered by the Romans in 209. It declined under the Roman Empire. Very little survives today since both the Greek and the Roman towns lie beneath the modern city. Votive and sanctuary terra-cottas and tombs with decorated sarcophagi and funerary couches have been found.