Locri Epizephyrii
Locri was the last of the Greek colonies founded on the territory of present-day Calabria, following the second wave of colonisation of the Achaeans who concentrated initially on the Ionian coast (Metapontion, Poseidonia, Sybaris, Kroton),[3][4] shortly before 720 BC.
This makes conceivable the idea of the foundation of Locri by an expedition of colonists, accompanied by Spartan soldiers or even pirates, hired as mercenaries by Sparta who, due to the First Messenian War, probably would have considered this solution as prudent as it did not distract military forces.
Even the ancients did not agree on the origin; Strabo, probably referring to an older source (Antiochus), stated with certainty that Locri Epizephyrii had been founded by colonists coming from Locride Ozolia led by an ecyst named Evantes.
[13] Locri was organised on a similar model to the motherland; a rigid conservative and warlike aristocracy exercised power through the "Assembly of a Thousand" which probably included all citizens who enjoyed full political rights; the population was then divided into three tribes and thirty-six phratries.
The extensive city walls of Locri of 5 miles circumference enclosing a large area up to the summit of the fortified hills were planned at this time, even though they were not completed until the second half of the 6th century BC.
Fearing for their survival and not trusting the Italiote League, the Greek cities had to ask for help from Rome which exploited this opportunity to extend its control towards the south by sending military garrisons.
He first attacked Locri, retaking and sacking it in 275 BC, harshly taking revenge against the people who handed the city to the Romans and looting the famous temple of Persephone.
In 272 BC Rome established a new garrison in Locri and in exchange for their military support demanded nothing excessive from the cities of Magna Graecia, dispensing them from providing men for the legions and only asking supply of ships when needed.
However the army sent in 208 BC to support a naval expedition to recover Locri led by Lucius Cincius Alimentus was annihilated near Petelia and the two Roman consuls, Marcellus and Titus Quinctius Crispinus were killed near the Carthaginian camps.
[32] In 205 BC the consul Scipio Africanus made another plan to reconquer it and when some inhabitants of Locri fell into the hands of the Romans[33] they informed them that a large part of the population could no longer tolerate the Carthaginian presence, confirmed by the Locrian exiles of Rhegium, he returned the prisoners to Locri who arranged, once inside the walls, to elininate the Carthaginian guards at night and let 3000 Roman troops into the lower part of the city.
It was also due to the desecration of the temple being seen as a bad omen by the senate, so that Quintus Minucius' investigations were rapid and soon led to the capture of the culprits and the restitution of the sums of money stolen from the treasury.
Archaeological excavations carried out by Orsi (between 1908 and 1912), by Arias (between 1940 and 1941) and by Jacopi (in 1951) revealed that the town was organised with a rectangular plan crossed by a wide main street which still retains the Greek name of "dromo" (cf.
This served a variety of purposes, it gave light for the rooms, shelter for the house's animals, a place for an open fire and a space to carry out everyday domestic activities.
[46] The Romans built the side corridors and removed the lower rows of steps to build a high semicircular wall protecting spectators and enlarging the area for fights between gladiators or between men and animals.
Demeter, mother of Persephone, was a goddess linked with the cycle of agriculture and was venerated here as Thesmophorus (thesmos = law; phoros = bearer), protectress of marriage and of the rites of passage from girlhood to adulthood.
The sanctuaries of Demeter Thesmophoros had no real temples, but green areas where there might be altars and small buildings used either for conducting rites or for keeping the most valuable votive offerings.
The importance of the cult of Demeter in Locri can also be seen from the tablets of the archive of the temple of Olympic Zeus and from the representation of the goddess in various local artistic documents (pinakes and some statuettes of the Grotta Caruso sanctuary).
It was an imposing structure with a series of six rooms (oikoi, 7 x 5 m), later divided into eleven, on each side of the courtyard of 55 x 66 m. A great deal of curiosity has been raised as to their use; one possibility is that travelling worshippers used them as lodgings and to celebrate sacrificial rituals at sacred banquets as in a hestiatoreion such as at the Temple of Juno Lacinia (Crotone).
371 bothroi (pits) were found in the U-shaped stoa with remains of meals, evidently intended for the celebration of sacred banquets, with terracotta statuettes and dedications to Aphrodite.
Amongst the pottery there was a black varnish vase engraved with the name of Cybele, proof that this Eastern mother goddess had reached Locri prior to being incorporated into the worship of Aphrodite.
The votive objects found in the complex (figured terracottas, fragments of vases, arules, pinakes, mirrors and inscriptions dedicated to the goddess) indicate the temple's use was between the 7th and 2nd centuries BC.
The sanctuary had no large temple but the retaining walls defined a narrow and dimly-lit path to the consecrated area that gave the ancient visitor a feeling of being in a sacred place.
These small ex voto terracotta pictures found in the treasury of the Mannella sanctuary were decorated with polychrome relief scenes illustrating aspects of the myth and cult of Kore-Persephone.
It is an imposing sculpture depicting each Dioscuro descending from a rearing horse supported by a bearded merman, the human torso covered by a cloth and the rest of the body with the appearance of a fish.
In the centre of the cell three large limestone slabs were set vertically in the ground covering a bothros (pit below floor level) which must have been of considerable importance for the cult for storing precious objects.
Furthermore, a fragment of pínax from 470-60 BC (currently in the Museum of Magna Graecia in Reggio Calabria) found in the temple of Persephone in Mannella shows part of a female figure almost identical to one of the two women represented on the sides of the Ludovisi Throne.
Research from 1996 has revealed that in the early Imperial era (mid-1st century AD) there was a complete urban and cultural transformation of the ancient city, while significant construction in the post-Hannibal to the late republican periods is missing; the monuments and road network were improved including the water management system notably in the Petrara area which was the political, administrative and religious centre.
On the southern side, instead, various areas which perhaps were part of a large private house (G) have been investigated and the material found there included an hourglass-shaped millstone and fragments of a marble altar table.
The baths were aligned with the regular urban plan of the Greek era and overlooked a porticoed corridor (1) on the main street (plateia) which since the 6th century BC crossed the city from mountain to sea.
From here, through a large arch, still visible in the nineteenth-century façade of the main building, there was access to a sequence of three heated rooms (15-17, tepidaria and calidaria), the last of which (17) served by three tanks for hot baths (6-8pm).
