Foundation . to
Hades and
Persephone (Reggio Museum). Locri was the last of the Greek colonies founded in
Calabria, following a wave of
colonization by
Achaeans from the
Ionian coast (
Metapontion,
Poseidonia,
Sybaris,
Kroton) shortly before 720BC. The first settlement was founded near Cape Zefirio (the current Cape
Bruzzano). Later, the colonists moved north, close to the Epopis hill, where they founded a city named
"Epizephyrioi". The indigenous populations of the
Sicels were driven out.
Disputes in origin Scholars hold contrasting views of the colonists' origins. Some argue that they might have come from
Opuntian Locris, while others believe they originated in
Ozolian Locris in whole or in part. Many believe that the settlers were
Helots. The dispute is based on different ancient sources.
Government and organisation Locri functioned under a political model similar to that of
Locris. A conservative
militarist aristocracy exercised power through the so-called "Assembly of a Thousand", which was probably composed of citizens enjoying full political rights. The population was organised into three tribes and thirty-six
phratries. The Epizephyrian Locris legal system was based on the legislation of
Zaleucus,
c. 660 BC and used a written, codified set of laws. The system used the
law of retaliation (Latin:
lex talionis), imposing specific penalties for each crime committed in an attempt to prevent serial family feuds and private vengeance, which was customary at the time. The system also placed a much higher value on the role and social prestige of women within Epizephyrian Locrian society. This is seen in their role in the city's cults and their right to perpetuate inheritance and the name of a family over time, even in the absence of male heirs. The nobility also used
matrilineality to trace its lineage. In 7th century BC, the development of the city was underway, expanding from the hills onto the plain closer to the sea, based on an organized urban plan. Its sanctuaries and cults became well-known across the Greek world, particularly two sanctuary estates: one dedicated to
Persephone (who was worshipped as the protector of fertile marriage, a role typically associated with
Hera), and one to
Aphrodite.
Expansion The city's stability led to an expansion of control over the territory through the establishment of sub-colonies. This was driven by a desire for greater control of the area and a need to counter the threat of expansion of their enemy in Kroton. This was made possible by the city's notable demographic growth, which risked disrupting the existing fragile balance. Thus, it extended its control from the Ionian coast to the Tyrrhenian side of present-day Calabria; founding the two colonies of
Medma (today Rosarno) and
Hipponion (modern-day Vibo Valentia) between 650 and 600 BC. This was likely built on existing settlements, occupying
Metauros (modern-day Gioia Tauro), previously established as a colony of Zancle (Messina) or Rhegion (Reggio Calabria).
War with Kroton At the
Battle of the Sagra (560–550 BC), Locri emerged victorious, halting Kroton's territorial expansions, and establishing Locri as a new power in the region. Following this victory, the cult of the
Dioscuri began to be observed in both Rhegion and Locri. During excavations of the Ionic temple of Marasà in Locri Epizephyrii, two marble
acroteria statues were found, which may represent the twin sons of
Zeus; these are now housed in the
National Museum of Magna Graecia, Reggio. Locri expanded its control further north than ever before. It incorporated Kaulon, and likely Skylletion on the Ionian coast, as well as probably
Terina, and
Temesa on the Tyrrhenian coast, thereby gaining control over the territory between the Gulfs of Squillace and Sant’Eufemia. This led to a period of significant prosperity in the second half of the 6th century BC.
Alliance with Syracuse Locri established alliances with the
Deinomenids (485–465 BC) of
Syracuse and later with
Dionysius I and his son
Dionysius II. In 477 BC,
Anaxilas of Rhegion (modern day
Reggio Calabria) prepared to attack Locri. Locri turned to
Hieron I of Syracuse for help and successfully dissuaded Anaxilas. The 4th century BC was a period of artistic, economic, and cultural splendor for Locri. Inhabitants of note included the poet
Nossis and the philosophers
Echecrates,
Timaeus, and
Acrion, founders of a flourishing
Pythagorean school (introduced to Locri at the time of Dionysius I).
Plato visited Locri.
Roman conquest The weakness of Syracuse left the Greek cities of southern Italy particularly vulnerable, as they were unprepared for the threat of the
Bruttii,
Samnites, and
Lucanians. Fearing for their survival and distrusting the
Italiote League, the Greek cities asked for help from Rome, which exploited this opportunity to extend its control southward by sending military garrisons. Locri received such a Roman garrison before 282 BC. In 280 BC,
Pyrrhus invaded southern Italy to honour an alliance with Tarentum from the earlier Roman-Semite war. The shifting balance of power led Locri to ally with Pyrrhus, expelling the Roman garrison in protest of its dependence on Rome. However, the failure of Pyrrhus’s campaign, coupled with the growing unpopularity of his rule due to increasingly tyrannical behaviour, led Locri to surrender once again to Rome in 277 BC. In 272 BC, Rome established a new garrison in Locri and, in return for their military support, made only moderate demands from the cities of Magna Graecia—exempting them from providing men for the legions and only requesting the supply of ships when needed. Therefore, Locri became a
socia navalis of Rome, remaining independent, while retaining its Greek characteristics, and continuing to mint its own money. In 264 BC, Locri provided several transport ships for Rome in the
First Punic War, honouring their treaty.
Second Punic War After the defeat of the
Romans at Cannae (216 BC), Locri sided with the
Carthaginians, swayed by
Hannibal's promises of freedom and independence. Hannibal's priority was to conquer an outlet to the sea in
Bruttium and, in the winter of 216/215 BC after abandoning plans to capture
Rhegium, ordered Hanno to seize Locri. Hanno sent cavalry forward under Hamilcar to capture the population outside the city walls, and thus a large number of prisoners were used to secure the unconditional surrender of the city. At the same time, the Locrians secretly allowed the Roman garrison, commanded by
Lucius Atilius, to board ships to escape the city and go to Rhegium. Locri was thus granted significant autonomy, maintaining the port under its control, and being able to govern itself provided that it supported the Carthaginian forces. The cities of southern Italy were gradually retaken by the Romans and, after the
Battle of the Metaurus, Locri was the last great city still in the hands of Hannibal. However, the army sent in 208 BC to support a naval expedition to recover Locri, led by
Lucius Cincius Alimentus, was annihilated near
Petelia. The two Roman consuls,
Marcellus and
Titus Quinctius Crispinus, were killed near the Carthaginian camps. The naval expedition reached Locri, and besieged it, but fled on the arrival of Hannibal. In 205 BC, the consul
Scipio Africanus devised another plan to reconquer Locri when some inhabitants of Locri fell into the hands of the Romans. Having been informed that a large portion of the population could no longer endure the Carthaginian occupation (an account corroborated by Locrian exiles residing in Rhegium), Scipio returned the prisoners to Locri. Once within the city walls, they conspired to eliminate the Carthaginian garrison during the night and admitted 3,000 Roman soldiers into the lower quarter of the city. The Carthaginian forces, taken by surprise, retreated to the citadel where prolonged skirmishes broke out between the opposing garrisons within the city. Hannibal immediately marched his army toward Locri, and was on the verge of reaching it when the Locrians joined forces with the Romans on the battlefield, decisively altering the course of the conflict.
Aftermath Control of the city fell to
Quintus Pleminius, and the military tribunes
Marcus Sergius and Publius Mazienus. Pleminius took advantage of the ongoing war to commit atrocities, violence and theft on the Locrian population. He also orchestrated the sacking of the sanctuary of Persephone (as Pyrrhus had done decades earlier). There are different versions of what happened next, but the discontent resulted in increasingly frequent clashes between factions within the garrison. Pleminius had the military tribunes beaten, whose supporters pounced on Pleminius, seriously wounding him. Pleminius retaliated in turn by having Sergius and
Matienus tortured, and finally killed.
Scipio returned to restore order and arrested Pleminius. Eventually, on direct appeal of the Locrians, the Senate had Pleminius sent to Rome (where he soon died in prison), restored the losses of the treasury of Persephone from public funds, and made the Roman soldiers return their loot while the Locrians were given their freedom. In 204 BC, the restoration of the
foedus amicitiae and the extensive autonomy that Rome granted it, allowed Locria to keep its ancient laws and customs. But the vicissitudes of the 3rd century BC caused a notable depression of the city. Large areas of the city were abandoned (e.g. the Centocamere area), and agricultural settlements began to be developed in the surrounding areas.
Further Romanisation Around the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 2nd century BC, another desecration of the Persephoneion by the Bruttii prompted a new and decisive intervention by the Roman Senate in favor of Locri. This response was motivated by Rome’s desire to honour its oath of loyalty, mutual aid with Locri, and by the Senate's interpretation of the temple desecration as a bad omen. As a result, Quintus Minucius conducted swift investigations, which soon led to the capture of the culprits and the restitution of the funds stolen from the temple treasury. Following this, Locri was called upon to fulfill its military obligations as
civitas foederata to provide
triremes for the Roman fleet in 191 BC during the war against
Antiochus III the Great, and again in 171 BC during the conflict against
Perseus of Macedonia. But the economic crisis in Locri left the city unable to provide the ships required in 156 BC against the Dalmatians in the Iberian Peninsula. In this case, it was the historian
Polybius, who enjoyed great favor in Rome, who intervened to exempt Locri from sanctions.
Imperial era Locri remained an important centre known by personalities such as
Cicero, but its importance was more local: confined to a provincial area that was increasingly distant from Roman political interests, and the great economic traffic of the empire. It therefore became a smaller administrative centre, but numerous other agricultural centres, and opulent villas developed, which took over from the city from an economic and residential point of view. ==Architecture==