Locri Epizephyrii
Locri Epizephyrii was an ancient Greek city located on the Ionian Sea, at the southern tip of what is now Calabria, Italy. Founded in the early seventh century BC by settlers from Locris in mainland Greece, the city was established on a native site near the Zephyrian promontory. Over time, it became known for its oligarchic government led by the "Hundred Houses" and its lawgiver Zaleucus, credited with creating one of the earliest legal codes in Europe. Locri Epizephyrii was involved in significant historical events, including its victory over Croton in the Battle of the Sagras and its alliances with Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War. The city was also a center for culture, attracting philosophers and producing notable artworks, such as the Ludovisi and Boston Thrones. Despite its fluctuating political allegiances during the wars with Rome, it maintained prominence until the fifth century AD, when it was still recognized as an important town in South Italy. Archaeological remains, including temples and urban complexes, highlight Locri's rich cultural heritage, particularly its worship of deities like Persephone.
Subject Terms
Locri Epizephyrii
Lokroi Epizephyrioi (Locris in the West)
A Greek city on the Ionian Sea near the southern extremity of Bruttii (now Calabria), the toe of Italy. Locri Epizephyrii was refounded by the Greeks on a native (Oenotrian, i.e. probably Sicel) site on the Zephyrian promontory (Cape Bruzzano) early in the seventh century BC. The colonists were men from Locris (qv) on the mainland of Greece, probably for the most part Opuntians (East Locrians), with an admixture of Ozolians (West Locrians), Spartans and fugitive slaves. After three or four years the settlers moved twelve miles northward nearer to the coast (to Gerace Marina which has now been renamed Locri). The members of the oligarchy that ruled Locri Epizephyrii, known as the Hundred Houses, were reputed to have been excellent rulers; the city was famous for its lawgiver Zaleucus (c 650?) who, although his career is encrusted in legend, seems to have produced Europe's earliest legal code (notorious for its severity) and acted as arbitrator between social factions.
Locri Epizephyrii defeated Croton (Crotona) in the battle of the Sagras (Sagra), soon after the middle of the fifth century, founded its own colonies (Hipponium where Vibo Valentia was later established [c 650], Medma or Mesma [Rosarno], Mataurus or Metaurus [near Gioia Tauro; perhaps the birthplace of the poet Stesichorus] and Torre Galli [c 600–550]). Locri also maintained friendly relations with the Syracusans. This was particularly important owing to its persistent friction with the rival city of Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria), whose autocrat (tyrant) Leophron attacked them in 477/6; the Locrians vowed to prostitute their virgin daughters at the festival of Aphrodite if they succeeded in defeating him. The Ludovisi Throne (c 470) at the National Museum (Terme) in Rome, adorned with reliefs of the highest quality, and the related Boston Throne, may have come from Locri Epizephyrii. Pindar praised their city in two of his Olympian odes. During the Athenian invasion of Sicily in the Peloponnesian War (415–413) the Locrians were on the side of Syracuse, whose later ruler Dionysius I married a Locrian and joined them in the suppression of Rhegium (390–387); so that Locri gained substantial acquisitions of territory and became the principal city-state of Bruttii.
During the fourth century Plato came to Locri to study, and its native sons included a number of philosophers and the famous physician Philistion. In 356 it welcomed Dionysius II of Syracuse, only to eject him four years later—thereupon issuing, for the occasion, a coin inscribed Peace (Eirene). During the war between Rome and Pyrrhus of Epirus (280–275), Locri changed sides on a number of occasions, and served as a mint for both sides. In an effort to propitiate the Romans it issued a coin celebrating its loyalty (Pistis) toward them, and its envoys reminded the Roman senate of the sanctity of their temple of Persephone or Kore (Proserpina), whose cult was related to the worship of Aphrodite. In the Second Punic War the Epizephyrian Locrians surrendered to Hannibal (216), but had to capitulate to an officer of Scipio Africanus the Elder eleven years later. During the second century Locri appears from Polybius, who knew it well, to have remained a city of note, allied to Rome, and Cicero and Statius bore witness to its wealth during the first centuries BC and AD. In the fifth century AD, although diminished in size, it was still counted by Proclus among the most important towns of South Italy.
Its earlier city wall, erected in the fourth and third centuries BC, had encircled an area that was not wholly occupied by buildings; two main urban complexes have been identified, at Centocamere and Caruso. Hillslopes provided the site for a Hellenistic theater, rebuilt in Roman times, and a Doric temple has been found nearby. Votive objects and dedicatory inscriptions bear witness to the temple of Persephone, which flourished in the sixth and fifth centuries and is to be sought on the top of the Mannella hill. Another shrine, going back to the end of the seventh century and reconstructed in the fifth, is to be seen at Marasa; and a temple archive containing 37 inscribed bronze tablets, of the late fourth or early third century, has been discovered in a cylindrical stone chest not far away. Early cemeteries were augmented by a necropolis of Roman times.