Tarentum: The Spartan Star of the West
While most Greek colonies in Southern Italy were founded by various tribes seeking land, Tarentum (Greek: Taras) had a unique and gritty origin story. It was the only colony ever founded by Sparta, and for centuries, it reigned as the “Paris of antiquity”—a city of immense wealth, formidable military power, and unrivaled artistic sophistication.
The Legend of the Outcasts
According to tradition, Tarentum was founded in 706 BC by the Partheniae, a group of Spartans born out of wedlock during the long Messenian Wars. Denied citizenship in Sparta, they sailed west under their leader, Phalanthos.
Legend says Phalanthos was shipwrecked during a storm and carried to the shores of Italy by a dolphin—an omen from Poseidon. This iconic image of a boy or hero riding a dolphin became the eternal symbol of the city, appearing on nearly every silver coin they minted for 400 years.
The Powerhouse of Magna Graecia
By the 4th century BC, Tarentum had become the wealthiest city in Magna Graecia (Great Greece). Its location on a protected, double-harbor lagoon (the Mare Piccolo) made it a commercial juggernaut.
Tarentum was famous for three things:
- The Tarentine Horsemen: Unlike the Spartan “hoplite” infantry, the Tarentines perfected light cavalry tactics. Their riders were so skilled at skirmishing that the term “Tarentine” eventually became a generic military word for a specific type of light horseman.
- Purple Dye: The city produced a rare and expensive violet-purple dye from murex sea snails, rivaling the famous dyes of Tyre.
- Philosophy and Science: Under the leadership of Archytas, a brilliant Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician (and a close friend of Plato), Tarentum reached its intellectual peak. Archytas is often credited with inventing the first self-propelled flying machine—a wooden bird powered by steam.
The Clash with Rome
Tarentum’s decline was as dramatic as its rise. As the Roman Republic expanded southward, the Tarentines grew nervous. In 280 BC, a diplomatic dispute led the city to call upon the legendary King Pyrrhus of Epirus for help.
This sparked the Pyrrhic War, famous for the “Pyrrhic victory”—battles where the Greeks won, but at such a high cost that they eventually lost the war. When Pyrrhus returned to Greece, Tarentum was left to face the Roman legions alone.
The Roman Legacy
The city fell to Rome in 272 BC. While it remained an important port, its days as an independent Greek superpower were over. Much of the magnificent Greek art and sculpture that would later influence the Roman “Renaissance” was actually looted from Tarentum and carried back to Rome.
Today, the modern city of Taranto sits atop the ancient ruins. Visitors can still see the massive Doric columns of the Temple of Poseidon, standing as sentinels over the harbor where Phalanthos is said to have washed ashore.