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Sicily Cities

The ancient city of Rhegion (Latin Rhegium) (nowadays: Reggio di Calabria) was one of the Magna Graecia colonies founded by Chalcidians from Zancle in 730 BC.

Reggio Calabria, located on the toe of the Italian boot, is the capital of the province of Reggio Calabria. It was the capital of the southern region of Calabria until 1970 when this became Catanzaro.

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Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria)m Satellite image

History

Rhegium

Thucydides wrote that before to found Rhegion, there was a consulting to the Delphi oracle, and then the Messenians, coming from Messene in the Peloponnesos participate to the foundation by order of Apollo and Artemis.

Rhegion was devastated by several major earthquakes and associated tsunami. The worst earthquakes came in 1783 and on December 28, 1908. It was later called Rhegium and became part of the Kingdom of Sicily (12th century) and the Kingdom of Naples (13th century).

Rhegium Tetradrachm, Lion Head, Head of Apollo with Text "REGINON", 415/387 BC

Persons

Ibycus of Rhegium

Cleomenes of Rhegium

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Only the artist Lysippus produced around 1500 sculptures, most of them in bronze. Ironically only few bronze statues survived. In 1972 two masterpieces were found in Italy now in Calabria ,

Strabo, I, p. 385 :

Rhegium was founded by certain Chalcidenses, who, as they say, were decimated as an offering to Apollo in a time of scarcity, by order of an oracle, and afterwards removed hither from Delphi, taking with them certain others from home. As Antiochus says, the Zanclaeans sent for the Chalcidenses, and appointed Antimnestus chief over them. Certain fugitives of the Messenians of Peloponnesus accompanied this colony.

The Riace Bronze Warriors

Other colonies in antiquity founded by Zancleans.

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