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TARENTUM (Gr. rapas)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 418 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TARENTUM (Gr. rapas) , a See also:Greek See also:city of See also:southern See also:Italy (mod. See also:Taranto, q.v.), situated on the N. See also:coast of the gulf of the same name, on a rocky islet at the entrance to the only secure See also:harbour in it. It was a Spartan See also:colony founded about the See also:close of the 8th See also:century B.C. (See also:Jerome gives the date 708) to relieve the See also:parent See also:state of a See also:part of its See also:population which did not possess, but claimed to enjoy, full civic rights. See also:Legend represents these Partheniae (so they are called) as Spartans with a stain on their See also:birth, but the accounts are neither clear nor consistent, and the facts that underlie them have not been cleared up. The Greeks were not the first settlers on the See also:peninsula: excavations have brought to See also:light signs of a pre-Hellenic See also:settlement. To the Greeks Taras was a mythical See also:hero, son of See also:Neptune, and he is sometimes confounded with the oecist (See also:official founder) of the colony, Phalanthus. Situated in a fertile See also:district, especially famous for See also:olives and See also:sheep, with an admirable harbour, See also:great See also:fisheries and prosperous manufactures of See also:wool, See also:purple 1 and pottery, Tarentum See also:grew in See also:power and See also:wealth and extended its domain inland. Even a great defeat by the natives in 473 B.C., when more Greeks See also:fell than in any See also:battle known to See also:Herodotus, did not break its prosperity, though it led to a See also:change of See also:government from See also:aristocracy to See also:democracy. A See also:feud with the Thurians for the district of the Siris was settled in 432 by the See also:joint See also:foundation of See also:Heraclea, which, however, was regarded as a Tarentine colony. In the 4th century Tarentum was the first city of Magna Graecia, and its wealth and See also:artistic culture at this See also:time are amply attested by its See also:rich and splendid coins; the See also:gold pieces in particular (mainly later than 36o) are perhaps the most beautiful ever struck by Greeks (see Nunrsstartcs). In the second See also:half of the century Tarentum was in See also:constant See also:war with the Lucanians, and did not hold its ground without the aid of Spartan and Epirote condottieri.

Then followed war with See also:

Rome (281) in consequence of the injudicious attack of the See also:mob on the See also:Roman See also:fleet in the harbour of Tarentum and on the Roman See also:garrison at See also:Thurii, the expedition of See also:Pyrrhus, whom Tarentum summoned to its aid, and at length, in 272, the-surrender of the city by its Epirote garrison. Tarentum retained nominal See also:liberty as an ally of Rome. In the Second Punic War it went over to See also:Hannibal in 212, and suffered severely when it was retaken and plundered by See also:Fabius (209), who sold See also:thirty thousand citizens as slaves. After this it fell into decay, but revived again after receiving a colony in 123 B.C., 1 Large heaps of the shells of the murex, or purple-yielding See also:mussel, were visible on the See also:shore before the See also:extension of the See also:arsenal.which received the name of Neptunia. In the time of See also:Augustus it was essentially Greek and a favourite See also:place of resort (See also:Horace, Od., iii. 5, 53), but it declined afterwards. See also:Belisarius ordered it to be re-fortified, but it was soon taken by See also:Totila, who made it his treasure See also:store. After his defeat by See also:Narses, it was sold to the See also:Byzantine See also:Empire by its See also:Gothic See also:governor. One of the most interesting discoveries of See also:recent years has been that of a See also:terramara on the so-called Scoglio del Tonno on the N.W. of the See also:town, which in its type and in the See also:character of the See also:objects found there, is exactly identical with the terremare of the Po valley. It seems, however, to be an isolated colony, and not to prove a parallel development in See also:north and See also:south Italy (T. E. Peet in Papers of the See also:British School at Rome, iv., 1907, 285).

Almost the only relic of any See also:

building of the Greek city is a part of a Doric See also:temple on the See also:island—which the See also:modern town occupies—two fluted columns, with a See also:lower See also:diameter of 63 ft., and a height of 28 ft., and some fragments of the See also:entablature, belonging probably to the beginning of the 6th century B.C., so that this is one of the earliest extant Doric temples. The See also:condition of the site was, however, different in See also:ancient times; the See also:rock occupied by the modern town was, it is true, the citadel, but was connected with the See also:land to the See also:west by an See also:isthmus, which was only cut through by See also:Ferdinand I. of See also:Aragon; and it was also a See also:good See also:deal less extensive. The See also:line of the walls which defended the city on the See also:east (land) See also:side has been traced, and a few remains of well-cut blocks, with Greek masons' marks, still exist. In the centre of the See also:Agora was the huge See also:bronze See also:Zeus by See also:Lysippus, and facing on to it the IlouaX,, or painted See also:portico, with pictorial representations of the See also:life of Phalanthus, and the foundation of the city, and the museum. There was also a See also:fine gymnasium and other buildings mentioned by classical writers. See also:Strabo's description of the site (vi. 3, 1) is a good one. Of all these structures no traces remain. The Roman See also:amphitheatre, on the other See also:hand, and remains of Roman See also:baths by the seashore, have been found; the former perhaps occupies the site of the ancient See also:theatre, in which the Roman See also:ambassador was received in 281 B.C. Three fine mosaics of the Roman See also:period were found in the remains of a See also:house in 1899, and transported to the museum (A. Avena, Monumenti dell' Italia Meridionale, See also:Naples, 1903, 239). A fine See also:silver See also:jug and drinking-See also:horn, found in Tarentum in 1889 (now in Triest) are illustrated by A.

Puschi• and F. See also:

Winter in Jahreshefte See also:des Osterr. See also:Arch. Instituts, v. (1902) 112. Other silver vessels found in 1896 are in the important See also:local museum (G. Patroni in Notizie degli scavi, 1896, 376), and at See also:Bari (M. See also:Mayer, ibid., 1896, 547). All seem to belong to the 4th century B.C. To the N.W. of the town along the Massafia road, See also:neolithic tombs and a fine Greek hypogaeum in See also:masonry were discovered in 1900. (T.

End of Article: TARENTUM (Gr. rapas)

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