Editing Crotone (section)

===Greek era===

It soon became one of the most flourishing cities of [[Magna Graecia]] reaching a population between 50,000 and 80,000 around 500 BC.<ref name="Jarde2013">{{cite book|author=Jarde, A.|title=The Formation of the Greek People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aEWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA217 |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-19586-0 |page=217}}</ref> During its early history Croton expanded its influence over the [[Bruttian]] peninsula founding possibly [[Caulonia_(ancient_city)|Caulonia]] in the second half of the 7th century BC.<ref>Pseudo-Scymnus, Periodos to Nicomedes 318–319</ref>

The victory of [[Locri]] and [[Reggio Calabria|Rhegium]] over Croton in the [[battle of the Sagra]] in middle of the sixth century BC<ref>Wonder, John W. (2012). "The Italiote League: South Italian Alliances of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC". Classical Antiquity. 31 (1). p 139 doi:10.1525/CA.2012.31.1.128 </ref> interrupted the expansion of the city.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Vattuone|first=Riccardo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uU0bAAAAYAAJ&q=battaglia+della+sagra|title=Storici greci d'Occidente|date=2002|publisher=Il mulino|isbn=978-88-15-09098-0|language=it}}</ref>

The walls of the city were 12 miles long and enclosed a vast area.<ref>Livy 24.3</ref> 

Its inhabitants were famous for their physical strength and for the simple sobriety of their lives. From 588 BC onwards, Croton produced many generations of winners in the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympics]] and the other [[Panhellenic Games]], the most famous of whom was [[Milo of Croton]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=510}} The physicians of Croton were considered the foremost among the Greeks, and among them [[Democedes]], son of [[Calliphon of Croton|Calliphon]], was the most prominent in the 6th century BC. Accordingly, he travelled around Greece and ended up working in the court of [[Polycrates]], tyrant of Samos. After the tyrant was murdered, Democedes was captured by the Persians and brought to King Darius, curing him of a dislocated ankle. Democedes' fame was, according to Herodotus, the basis for the prestige of Croton's physicians.<ref>Herodotus, ''The Histories'', 3.131: p. 226, Penguin Classics</ref>

Croton formed a league with [[Sybaris]] against [[Siris, Magna Graecia|Siris]] and in the war that ensued after 550 BC Siris was destroyed.<ref>Justin. xx. 2</ref>

[[Pythagoras]] founded his [[Pythagoreanism|school]] at Croton c. 530 BC. Among his pupils were the early medical theorist [[Alcmaeon of Croton]] and the philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer [[Philolaus]]. The Pythagoreans acquired considerable influence with the supreme council of one thousand by which the city was ruled.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=510}} 

Sybaris started to become the rival of Croton under the influence of the Pythagoreans who disliked excess, until 510 BC when Sybaris was shaken by various political events leading to the rule of the tyrant Telys. Many aristocrats were forced to flee to Croton and when Telys asked them to hand over the Sybarite exiles, the Crotonians refused and Sybaris began the war. Croton sent an army of 100,000 men commanded by the wrestler [[Milo of Croton|Milo]] against Sybaris and destroyed it.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} As a consequence, Croton became the capital of a confederation including the 25 city-states<ref>Strabo, Geography, VI, 1, 13</ref> in the region of Sybaris, as shown by numerous coins minted between 480 and 460 BC.

In 480 BC, Croton sent a ship led by the famous athlete [[Phayllos of Croton|Phayllos]] and armed at his own expense in support of the Greeks at the [[Battle of Salamis]], the only one from the Italian coast.<ref>Herodotus 8.47</ref> Half of a stone anchor block bearing his name was found at Capo Cimiti and currently preserved in the Museum of Capo Colonna.<ref> {{Cite web |last=Celsi |first=Giuseppe |date=2019-11-12 |title=Faillo (Phayllos) di Crotone |url=https://www.gruppoarcheologicokr.it/faillo-di-crotone/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Gruppo Archeologico Krotoniate (GAK) |language=it-IT}}</ref>

It founded the colony of [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]]<ref>Cerchiai, Luca; Jannelli, Lorena; Longo, Fausto, eds. (2004). The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Translated from Italian by the J. Paul Getty Trust. Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications. p 13 ISBN 978-0-89236-751-1</ref> on the Tyrrhenian coast in 480–470 BC. 

[[File:SNGANS 259ff.jpg|thumb|Coin of Croton, c. 480–460 BC]]

Shortly afterwards, however, a bloody revolt led by the oligarch [[Cylon of Croton|Cylon]], during which many Pythagoreans were massacred and Pythagoras himself had to flee to Metapontum, led to the Pythagoreans being driven out and a democracy established.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=510–511}} At the same time, other similar governments also fell and there were massacres and persecutions of Pythagoreans in all the Italian ''poleis''.

Croton then experienced a period of decline. Around this time the [[Italiote league]] was founded to defend itself from the expansionist aims of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] and from attacks by the Lucanians, with Croton as the hegemon of the league. The meeting place for the league was the [[Temple of Juno Lacinia (Crotone)|Sanctuary of Hera Lacinia]] at Capo Collone 10 km away, which was also used as the federal treasury of the league.<ref>Lomas, K. (1993) Rome and the Western Greeks 350 BC-AD 200: Conquest and Acculteration in Southern Italy (London: Routledge). p 31</ref> The decline was followed by general anarchy, not only in Croton but also in other cities. The intervention of Achaeans brought a truce to the anarchy and the colonies adopted the laws of their original homeland. This calm lasted until [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius]], the tyrant of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], aiming at hegemony in Magna Graecia, captured Croton in 379 BC and held it for twelve years. Croton was then occupied by the [[Bruttians|Bruttii]], with the exception of the citadel, in which the chief inhabitants had taken refuge; these soon after surrendered and were allowed to withdraw to Locri.<ref> Francesco Costantino Marmocchi, Corso di geografia storica antica, del Medioevo e moderna esposto in 24 studi da F. C. Marmocchi con atlante, V. Batelli e Company, 1845</ref>

In 295 BC, Croton fell to another Syracusan tyrant, [[Agathocles]]. When [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]] invaded Italy (280–278, 275 BC), it was still a considerable city, with twelve miles ({{convert|12|mi|abbr=out|disp=output only}}) of walls, but after the [[Pyrrhic War]], half the town was deserted.<ref>Livy 24.3</ref>