Crotone

Croton was founded by the Greeks in 708 BC ^[1] . Despite the flaws of the bay, the city served as the only harbor on the stretch of coast from Tarenta to Regia , thanks to which it quickly achieved prosperity ^[2] . The ancient settlement occupied a hill, where over time the acropolis, traditional for Hellenic polis, arose.

Starting from 580 BC, the Crotonians shone at the Olympics and were famous in Hellas for the art of healing. The democoed from Croton was mentioned by Herodotus as "a doctor who excelled all his contemporaries with art." In 530 BC e. Pythagoras founded a philosophical and ethical school in Croton, which supported the local oligarchic government. In 510 BC e. Milon of Crotons defeated Crotona's main rival, the city of Sibaris . Soon after, the tyranny of Clinius was established. The Pythagoreans left Croton, and tyranny replaced democracy. At the end of the VI century BC, Croton for a short time became the most powerful city in Great Greece .

By the 4th century BC, there were signs of crisis. In 379 BC e. Croton for 12 years passed under the rule of the Syracuse tyrant Dionysius I. In 295 BC e. in Croton ruled the tyrant Menedemos, who was expelled by the Syracuse king Agathocles , after which the city briefly became part of his Syracuse state .

Croton significantly weakened due to the Pyrrhic War and in 277 BC. e. first obeyed the Romans , from whom he again fell away during the invasion of Italy by the army of Hannibal . Finally became a Roman colony in 194 BC. e. The devastating effects of the Pyrrhic Wars are reported by Titus Livy ^[3] :

The wall surrounding Croton before Pyrrhus came to Italy had a circumference of twelve miles; after the devastations caused by that war, barely half the city was populated. The river flowed earlier in the center of the city, now it flowed to places that were not well developed, but the fortress was far from any dwelling.

- Titus Livy . History from the founding of the city ^[3]

In Croton, the action of the last surviving part of the Satyricon is placed. The heroes of the novel, climbing a mountain by the sea, discover that “from it a view was opened of a city located not far from us on a high hill. Wandering around an unfamiliar area, we did not know what it was until finally some farmer informed us that it was Crotona, an ancient city, once the first in Italy. ”

From the ancient city, almost nothing has been preserved, only on Lacinis hill it recalls the sanctuary of Juno lonely marble column (because of which the cape is called Capo Colonna , Capo Colonna ) ^[3] :

Six miles from the famous city was the even more famous temple of Lacinus Juno, revered by all the surrounding nations. He stood in a dense grove, surrounded by tall fir ; in the middle of it was a magnificent pasture where every cattle dedicated to the goddess grazed. <...> The temple was famous for wealth, not only holiness.

- Titus Livy . History from the founding of the city ^[3]

Croton is rarely mentioned during the time of the Roman Empire , which indicates its decline. In the VI century, he withstood the siege of Totila , subsequently entered the Ravenna exarchate . In 870 he was sacked by the Saracens , who executed the bishop and some of the townspeople who tried to hide in the cathedral.

Patrons of the city venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary ( Santa Maria di Capo Colonna ) and St. Dionysius the Areopagite , the celebration of October 9th .

Under Mussolini, the city ​​became the largest industrial center of Calabria, which was favored by the proximity of the hydroelectric power station . In the 1980s due to the bankruptcy of the main factories experienced an economic crisis. In 1996, suffered from a flood. Since 1955, archaeological excavations have been conducted in Croton.

Crotone is a city of modern buildings. The castle is reminded of the antiquity of the castle of Charles V , turned into a city museum, where, among other things, the results of the latest archaeological excavations are exhibited, a small fortification of La Castella on an island in the bay and a Romanesque cathedral with a classicist facade and a “ black madonna ” from the sanctuary on Cape Colonna .

•  

  Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

•  

  Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Chiesa di Santa Maria Prothospataris).

•  

  Temple of St. Joseph.

•  

  Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Santa Maria di Capo Colonna).

•  

  Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

•   Giannitsa , Greece (2010)
•   Porto , Portugal (2010)
•   Hamm , Germany (2013)

• Graham A.-J. Colonial expansion of Greece. Western Greeks. // Cambridge History of the Ancient World . - T. 3, part 3: The expansion of the Greek world. VIII-VI centuries BC e. - M. , 2007. - Ch. 37 and 38. - S. 103-233. - ISBN 978-5-86218-467-9