Taras was founded by the Lacedaemonians circa 700 bc (see chap. 5). It lay in the region Apulia, on a peninsula with the open sea to the south and a lagoon to the north, in possession of the sole good harbor on the Gulf of Taranto (Pol. X 1; Strab. VI 3,1, p. 278) (see Figure 22.1). The standard trade-route between Sicily and the greek mainland continually brought ships past the site. The fishing, moreover, was good (Arist. Pol. 1291b), and the land roundabout fertile (Strab. VI 3,5, p. 281). In many ways Taras had the ideal position for a greek colony.
Although it never obtained the might and wealth of Syracuse, Taras did grow to become the most important greek city in southern Italy. Originally governed by kings (Hdt. III 136) and aristocrats, a democracy was established a little after the Persian Wars (Arist. Pol. 1303a). Taras' splendid port always secured it economic advantages, and it boasted a thriving pottery industry during the fourth century as the numerous archaeologically attested vases made at Taras show (see Figure 22.2).
It was also a cultural center during this period, when it produced notable philosophers such as the statesman Archytas whom the Tarantines elected as general seven times (Diog. Laert. VIII 79). A prolific inventor (Arist. Pol. 1340b; gell. X 12), he maintained contacts with Plato (Plut. Dio, 18; Diog. Laert. VIII 80-81) who refers to
Figure 22.1 The site ofTaras today. Source: Kadellar, Http://commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/ File:Taranto-Aerial_view-2.jpg (accessed 12th February 2013) CC BY-SA 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0
Figure 22.2 Apulian bell crater, ca. 355-340 BC, depicting a mythological scene, the Judgment of Paris, which helped cause the Trojan War - Western and Aegean Greeks shared the same cultural heritage (see chap. 17). Source: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library
Some of his geometrical work (Rep. 528 - cf. Diog. Laert. VIII 83). More important was Aristoxenus, a distinguished pupil of Aristotle (Cic. Tusc. I 19), who allegedly expected Aristotle to name him, instead of Theophrastus, as successor in the Peripatetic School (Suid. s. v. Aristoxenos). Of Aristoxenus' many works, only one, The Elements of Harmony, a systematic description of music, has survived; it is indispensable for modern discussions of Greek music.
Despite its economic and cultural importance, Taras never succeeded in extending its power far into the interior and this would prove its undoing, as failure in wars against the Italian tribes there characterizes its history from start to finish. Both Herodotus (VII 170) and Aristotle (Pol. 1303a) speak of bloody defeats at the hands of Italian tribes already in the early fifth century. Although their general Archytas was allegedly never defeated in battle in the mid-fourth century (Diog. Laert. VIII 82), the Tarantines as a general rule, whenever threatened, had to turn to mainland Greece or to Sicily for help (see in text as well as in chap. 17 for the numerous instances). When the Tarantines brought about a war with Rome, they called upon Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus, to protect them but when his intervention finally failed, they had no choice but to accept Roman dominion. The other Greek cities in southern Italy, much less powerful than Taras, had to follow suit.
In Italy (Diod. XXI 8). Still, Agathocles retained control over most of the coastline of southern Italy from Hipponium to Taras.
Satisfied with how matters in Italy now lay, Agathocles, although by now an old man, planned one last war against the Carthaginians. In 289 he made an alliance with Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had just become King of Macedonia (see chap. 21), and had a fleet of 200 warships built. Unfortunately, Agathocles died before he could carry out his plan. Quarrels within his family made it impossible for him to arrange for one of his descendants to succeed him as king, so on his deathbed he gave the Syracusans their freedom back (Diod. XXI 15-16).
World History
