Head of a woman from Taranto 4th C. BCE

March 09, 2020

Head of a woman from Taranto 4th C. BCE

"Tarentum (Taras, modern Taranto), located on the southern coast of Apulia, Italy, was a Greek and then Roman city. Controlling a large area of Magna Graecia and heading the Italiote League, Tarentum, with its excellent harbour, was a strategically significant city throughout antiquity. Thus, it would play a pivotal role in the wars between Pyrrhus and Rome in the 3rd century BCE and again during the Second Punic War when Hannibal occupied southern Italy. While little remains today of ancient Tarentum's buildings, the city’s museum boasts one of the largest collections of Greek pottery in the world and has many fine bronzes, gold jewellery and floor mosaics.

Located on the coast and with the best harbour in the gulf of Tarentum, the city would prosper and become one of the most important commercial centres in the region. The growth of the city did bring it into conflict with local rivals such as Metapontum at the other end of the gulf, but Tarentum won important victories over local tribes (the Messapians and Peucetians) in 490 and 480 BCE. These battles were commemorated in dedications made at Delphi, although peace did not last long as the Messapians inflicted a serious defeat on Tarentum c. 475 BCE in a battle described by Herodotus as a ‘great bloodbath’ (7.170.3). A consequence of the city’s military weakness was an overthrow of the ruling class, which was replaced by a system of limited democracy.

Tarentum’s fortunes improved by the end of the 5th century BCE and saw the city grow to some 530 hectares and increase its outlying territory, an expansion aided by the decline of long-time rival Croton further down the coast of southern Italy. Goods and coinage from Tarentum (including silver staters with their distinctive male figure riding a dolphin) have been excavated all along the southern and Adriatic coasts of Italy illustrating the city’s prosperity and trading capacity. Large temple sanctuaries and cemeteries also attest to the growth of the city during the latter half of the 5th century BCE. The city even founded its own colony to the west, Heraclea (Herakleia), in 433 BCE. Around 400 BCE Heraclea became the seat of the Italiote League, an association of southern Italian city-states, which was dominated by Tarentum."

-taken from ancient.eu