Crotone

Crotona (in Italian Crotone, archaic name Croto) is a city and municipality with 61,392 inhabitants (2009), capital of the province of Crotona, on the coast eastern Calabria (Italy) facing the Ionian Sea in the area called the Gulf of Taranto.

History

Origins

Cities of the Magna Greece with the location of Crotona.

Crotona or Croton (in ancient Greek Κρότων, in ancient Greek Κρότωνας, in Latin: Crotona) was a Greek colony of Magna Graecia (Italy) on the eastern coast of the Brutius peninsula, at the mouth of the Aesaros River. It was founded by the Achaeans led by Miscelo, a citizen of the Achaean city of Ripes, following the instructions of the Delphic oracle.

Legend tells that the name Crotona has as its eponym the giant Croton, son of Aeacus, who was condemned by the gods to find no peace until the day in which he would have founded a superb city.

Historical science indicates that it was a colony founded around the year 709 B.C. C. by the Achaeans, later becoming one of the main urban centers of Magna Graecia, to such an extent that its school of philosophy directed by Pythagoras was famous. Notable citizens of ancient Crotona were another philosopher, Philolaus, and the Olympic-winning athlete Milo of Crotona.

Dionysus of Halicarnassus says that it was founded in the third year of the XVII Olympiad (709 BC). The name would derive from Croton, who hosted Heracles, who accidentally killed him and was buried in that place; Heracles was the tutelary hero of the city and was considered the oikistés (founder). The colony soon prospered and great walls were built, subduing the surrounding warlocks. He founded the colony of Terina, on the Tyrrhenian coast, and that of Caulonia between Terina and Locros. The cities of Lametinos, in the Hipponic Gulf, and Esciletio, on the other side of the isthmus, are believed to have been subject to him. He seems to have been on good terms with Sybaris, with whom he shared a common Achaean origin, although he did not reach the level of wealth and sophistication of the neighboring city. The people of Croton practiced sport and won a number of prizes at the Olympic Games (seven first prizes were once won).

The government was oligarchic, run by a 100-member council purported to be descendants of early settlers.

6th century B.C. c

In the VI century a. C. Pythagoras arrived in the city (around 540-530 BC) and established his philosophical school there, which attracted many citizens. His wife was Theano, daughter of Milo, his patron. Pythagoras used his influence for political purposes, but not much is known about the political changes and revolutions that he brought about. It is known that in addition to the influence he exercised over the council and many citizens, he had a body of 300 young men selected from among the most faithful disciples, who influenced the council's deliberations. In time the popularity of Pythagoras waned and a democratic revolution broke out against his influence; Pythagoras was expelled, but it is said that he did not survive the revolt and died in 507 BC. C. The great council was overthrown and democracy was established; In other cities of Magna Graecia where Pythagoras had also acquired influence, democratic revolutions also took place.

At the time when Pythagoras was influential, a war broke out with Sybaris that ended when the army of Crotona, under the command of the athlete Milo, a disciple of Pythagoras, won the battle of the River Traeis and occupied Sybaris and subsequently destroyed it (510 BC).. C.) Polybius affirms that after the expulsion of Pythagoras, Crotona made an alliance with Sybaris and Caulonia, but since Sybaris was already destroyed, it is possible to think that it was with its former inhabitants.

Later, Crotona was defeated at the Sagra River by an army of Locros and Regio. According to Strabo, this was the beginning of its decline (although until the following century it was the main city of Magna Graecia). The date is not fixed, and Marcus Juniano Justino says that it happened before 540 a. C., but comes into contradiction with Strabo, who seems better informed. Following the latter and Diodorus Siculus, the battle would have been fought before 480 BC. C.

5th and 4th centuries BC. c

During the century V a. C., Crotona founded the colony of Turios, with which it signed an alliance treaty. During the Athenian expedition to Sicily (415 BC-413 BC) he observed strict neutrality, providing the Athenians with provisions but denying the expedition forces passage overland.

In 389 B.C. C. Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse crossed the strait and attacked Caulonia, and Crotona led the league of Greek cities against Syracuse, but the confederate forces were defeated at the Heleporos river and Dionysius entered Caulonia, Hipponius and Scyletius (the last possession of Crotona). Diodorus does not record that Crotona was attacked, but Livy says that Dionysius the Elder surprised the city's citadel and seized Crotona, which he held for a dozen years.

After the fall of the tyrant, Crotona regained its independence, but at that time the power of Lucania and the Brutians had increased. The Brutians besieged the city and Crotona asked for help from Syracuse, who sent an army led by Heracleidas and Sosistratos, who instead of defending the city meddled in the intrigues of the local parties, which led to one or more revolutions. The Brutii withdrew by treaty, but by then the city was at war with members of the defeated party who had gone into exile. The city's army was entrusted to General Menedemos, who defeated the exiles but took power himself as a despot until Crotona fell into the hands of Agathocles of Syracuse, who established a garrison there; It is not known how long he dominated it, but he finally regained independence, although his power was already much less.

3rd and 2nd centuries BC. c

During the stay of Pyrrhus of Epirus in Magna Graecia, Crotona received a Roman detachment. Rhegion seized Crotona for treason and the city's Roman soldiers were slain and the city largely destroyed. It passed into the hands of Pyrrhus, but was surprised and occupied by the Romans led by the consul Cornelius Rufinus during Pyrrhus's absence (277 BC). Crotona, very ill-fated and decayed, remained as an allied city of the Roman Republic.

During the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general, Hanno, occupied Crotona, except for the citadel, which also finally surrendered; the aristocratic party was expelled to Locri and a certain number of brutius settled in the city to fill the vacancy of the expelled. The city had fortifications, a citadel and a port that made it important militarily, and towards the end of the war it was the main stronghold of the Carthaginians. Hannibal installed his main warehouse in the city and had it as his headquarters for three winters. This war ended up sinking the city. Recovered by the Romans at the end of the war, a colony under Roman law was founded there in 194 B.C. C., known by the Latin name of Croto.

Roman times

After the Social War, the colony of Croto became a municipium, becoming, in the time of Augustus, part of the Regio III Lucania et Bruttii within Roman Italy.

The territory of Crotona was quite large: to the north it reached the river Hilias and to the south, to the lands of Locris (between the colonies of Skylletion and Kaulon), while, to the west, the limit was uncertain. Nine kilometers southeast of the city is Cape Lakinion, today Capo Colonna. There were the temple of Juno Lacinia and a temple of Hera from 470 BC. C., in which an assembly of the Greek cities of Italy met every year. This temple was desecrated in 173 B.C. C. by the Roman censor Q. Fulvius Flaccus, who took the marbles to decorate the Temple of Equestrian Fortune that was being built in Rome, but the Senate ordered the repair and admonished the censor. Half of the tiles were returned "but none of the workers knew how to put them back on", so it was not restored. The temple continued to exist at least until 36 BCE. C., and the perimeter colonnade survived into the 16th century.

Later Centuries

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was the scene of some combat during the wars of the Byzantine generals Belisarius and Narses against the Ostrogoths, when it was an important city in southern Italy. It remained under Byzantine sovereignty until the Norman conquest, becoming part of the Kingdom of Sicily under the Hauteville dynasty.

Cultural heritage

In antiquity, the presence of a sanctuary of Hera Lacinia was attested, in honor of which an important festival was celebrated, as well as a temple of Apollo, and another of the muses erected at the request of the Pythagoreans.

The city has places of great interest such as the Torre Nao Antiquarian, Castle of Carlos V, the National Archaeological Museum of Crotona, the Civic Museum of Crotona, the Provincial Museum of Contemporary Art of Crotona and the Civic Art Gallery of Crotona.

Economy

Like most European towns, one of its main economic activities is tourism, but it is hindered by several factors: excessive construction (precisely for tourism purposes), to which is added little-planned industrial activity which has caused various types of pollution. In fact, during the XX century, an erroneous approach has been deployed in an industrial development pole in the city of Crotona and in its adjacencies: zinc metallurgy, cadmium, chemical industries (mainly nitric acid and chlorine).

Demographic evolution

Crotona's demographic evolution figure between 1861 and 2011

Source ISTAT - Wikipedia graphics

Sports

On May 23, 1996, Angel Edo won the 5th stage of the Giro d'Italia.

The local soccer club, FC Crotona, plays in the third division of national soccer, Serie C. It plays its home games at the Ezio Scida Stadium, which seats more than 16,000 spectators.

The judo society present at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 with Giuseppina Macri stands out.

• Note: The name Cortona that in some texts is given to this city, it is confused with that of a small town of Tuscany called precisely Cortona.

Illustrious Crotonians

The singer-songwriter Rino Gaetano, the doctors Alcmaeon and Democedes (the latter a doctor to King Darius I of Persia) and a large number of Pythagorean philosophers were born in Crotona, including the aforementioned doctor Alcmaeon of Crotona and Filolao. The athlete Milón was also a native of the city.