Thurii (/ˈθʊəriaɪ/; Latin: Thūriī; Ancient Greek: Θούρῐοι, romanized: Thoúrioi), called also by some Latin writers Thūrium (compare Ancient Greek: Θούρῐον, romanized: Thoúrion, in Ptolemy), and later in Roman times also Cōpia and Cōpiae, was an ancient Greek city situated on the Gulf of Taranto, near or on the site of the great renowned city of Sybaris, whose place it may be considered as having taken. The ruins of the city can be found in the Sybaris archaeological park near Sibari in the Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Thurii in the context of Herodotus
Herodotus (Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος, romanized: Hēródotos; c. 484 – c. 425 BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the Histories, a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars, among other subjects such as the rise of the Achaemenid dynasty of Cyrus. He has been described as "The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero.
The Histories primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. His work deviates from the main topics to provide a cultural, ethnographical, geographical, and historiographical background that forms an essential part of the narrative and provides readers with a wellspring of additional information.
In this Dossier
Thurii in the context of Gylippus
Gylippus (/dʒɪˈlɪpəs/; Greek: Γύλιππος) was a Spartan general (strategos) of the 5th century BC; he was the son of Cleandridas, who was the adviser of King Pleistoanax and had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athenian bribes in 446 BC and fled to Thurii, a pan-Hellenic colony then being founded in the instep of Italy with Athenian help and participation. His mother may have been a helot, which meant he was not a true Spartiate but a mothax, a man of inferior status. Despite this, from an early childhood he was trained for war in the traditional Spartan fashion and on reaching maturity had been elected to a military mess, his dues contributed by a wealthier Spartiate patron. For an individual of marginal origins, war was an opportunity to gain honor and eminence.
When Alcibiades urged the Spartans to send a general to lead the Syracusan resistance against the Athenian expedition, Gylippus was appointed (414 BC), his arrival was a turning point of the struggle. More daring than Nicias, the Athenian commander he faced, he was able to gain an upper hand by driving the Athenians from key strategic locations and essentially breaking the siege. When Athens sent Demosthenes with reinforcements, he too was defeated by Gylippus, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Athenian campaign in Syracuse.
Thurii in the context of Battle of Heraclea
The Battle of Heraclea took place in 280 BC between the Romans under the command of consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, and the combined forces of Greeks from Epirus, Tarentum, Thurii, Metapontum, and Heraclea under the command of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the battle was a victory for the Greeks, they incurred severe losses.
Thurii in the context of Dionysius Chalcus
Dionysius Chalcus (Greek: Διονύσιος ὁ Χαλκοῦς) was an ancient Athenian poet and orator. According to Athenaeus, he was called Chalcus ("brazen") because he advised the Athenians to adopt a brass coinage (xv. p. 669). His speeches have not survived, but his poems are referred to and quoted by such authors as Plutarch (Nicias, 5), Aristotle (Rhetoric, iii. 2), and Athenaeus (xv, p. 668, 702; x, p. 443; xiii, p. 602). The extant fragments are chiefly elegies on symposiac subjects and are characterized by extravagant metaphors.
Plutarch credits Dionysius Chalcus with leading the band of Athenian colonists who founded Thurii in 443 BC.
Thurii in the context of Gaius Fabricius Luscinus
Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, son of Gaius, was said to have been the first of the Fabricii to move to ancient Rome, his family originating from Aletrium.
In 284 BC he was one of the ambassadors to Tarentum, successfully keeping peace, and was elected consul in 282 BC where he saved the Greek city Thurii from the Lucanians. After the Romans were defeated by Pyrrhus at Heraclea, Fabricius negotiated peace terms with Pyrrhus and perhaps the ransom and exchange of prisoners; Plutarch reports that Pyrrhus was impressed by his inability to bribe Fabricius, and released the prisoners even without a ransom. Fabricius was consul a second time in 278 BC, and once again successful against the Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians. He also defeated Tarentum's army after Pyrrhus' departure from Italy to Sicily.