Editing Sybaris (section)

== Geography ==

The city was situated close to the sea and lay between the Crathis and Sybaris rivers (from which the city derives its name).{{sfnm|Strabo|1924|1loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.1.13 6.1.13]|Diodorus Siculus|2010|2p=189|2loc=12.9.2}} Most modern research places the city on a coastal ridge near a [[wetland]] [[lagoon]]. The rivers are now known as the Crati and Coscile. Today the Coscile feeds into the Crati about 5 km from its mouth, which passes just south of the archaeological site of the city. When Sybaris was still populated the Coscile pursued a direct course into the Gulf of Taranto, probably at a short distance to the north.{{sfn|Stanley|Bernasconi|2009|p=76, 82}} 

The city lay on the widest plain in modern Calabria that was renowned for its fertility and the origin of the city's wealth.{{sfn|Varro|1934|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/1*.html#44 1.44]}}

The city lay close to sea level and the plain surrounded by the two rivers was subject to periodic flooding so that today Sybaris lies some 6 m below the surface and below groundwater level. A disastrous flood in 2013 filled the excavated site and covered it with silt. Even in 2023 powerful pumps are continuously needed to remove groundwater from the site.