Magna Graecia (though at the time no one called it that) refers today to that part of southern Italy and Sicily that underwent colonization by various Greek poleis, which the settlers themselves called “metropolises.” The first of these colonies was founded by settlers from Chalcis on the island of Ischia, and was given the name Pithecusa (some remains on the green island still bear witness to it). Other metropolises followed in scattered order; settlers arrived from Corinth and Sparta; we find Messenians and Chalcidians among them (Chalcis was one of the two poleis on the island of Euboea). The phenomenon was due to demographic overcrowding and the consequent impoverishment of Greece. In previous centuries, the Greeks had colonized the rich coasts of the eastern Aegean; now it was the turn of the almost unknown West.
They set out under the leadership of an oikistēs who guided them—though not before consulting an oracle—in search of fertile lands, safe harbors, and women to ensure their descendants; in a word, they were seeking a better future.
We will tell you four stories set in as many colonies—Croton, Syracuse, Rhegion, and Locri. Naturally, these are not all of them. Enjoy!
KROTON, Kalos kai Agathos.
September 520 B.C., according to our calendar. The polis was still suffering the consequences of the war and of the defeat against Locri Epizephyrii. It had happened about ten years earlier, but the Crotoniates had only themselves—and their aggressiveness—to thank. There had been many skirmishes along the southern Crotonian border, involving even the Locrian colonies of Medma and Hipponion.
But perhaps it is better to proceed in order, accompanied by Leonimos, a gigantic blacksmith, whom we find seated, sipping a cup of wine with his friend Derthis, who had sought his services. To discuss the job, Derthis had invited him to the tavern. Both were burly men, but Derthis was younger and, not having taken part in the battle of the Sagra, was very interested in Leonimos’ tale, which he himself had asked to hear. The wine had already warmed them both, and deep down the Herculean blacksmith took pleasure in recalling his warrior past.
The polis was named after a friend of Heracles—Croton himself—accidentally killed by the hero, who, to honor his friend’s memory, erected a burial mound. The city had grown around it and was famous for the beauty of its women and for the health and strength of its men. There was in the city an athlete who had already won seven times at Olympia—Milo, a legendary man—but he was not the only one from Croton to have triumphed in the games. So much so that there was a saying in the Greek world: “the first of the Greeks in competition stands behind the last of the Crotoniates.”
This story greatly angered the Spartans, who, by their constitution and their famous Greek hybris, considered themselves superior to everyone!
The polis had been founded by Myscellus, who, after going to Delphi to ask for advice on where to found a colony, was told by the Pythia—or rather by her priests—that he should establish the city between Cape Lacinio and Punta Alice. Myscellus, who was hunchbacked (the leader of an expedition to found a colony, as mentioned, was called an oikistēs), passing by Sybaris—already founded and flourishing—wondered if he might not settle there instead. But the god Apollo, furious, reminded Myscellus in his own way that it was not wise to disobey an oracle and ordered him to stop between the Lacinian promontory and the sacred Kramisa.
So strong was the bond between the Achaean colony and Delphi that the coins minted in Croton bore in high relief the Delphic tripod.
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