THURII
later COPIA, Apulia, Italy.
On the E
coast of the toe of Italy, the city lies some 134 km SW
of Taranto. The colony was founded in 443 B.C. by the
Athenians, together with citizens from the former city
of Sybaris. Diodorus (12.10.6) states that it was not far
from Sybaris by a spring called Thuria. As early as 426
B.C. the port of Thurii was considered an important one.
During the 4th c. B.C., there was constant warfare with
the Lucanians and Bruttians, and the city became a voluntary Roman dependency. As such it opposed Pyrrhos and Hannibal (App.
Hann. 9.57). In an attempt to revive the town after Hannibal, the Romans planted the
colony of Copia there in 194 B.C., but it quickly declined
and finally was abandoned (App.
BCiv. 5.56).
Although Diodorus says that Thurii was founded not
far from Sybaris, the archaeological evidence points to
the fact that it was built over the S section of Sybaris.
Hippodamos reputedly planned the city by dividing it up
into twenty wards formed by three main avenues which
were bisected at right angles by four streets. In the NE
corner of the Serra Pollinara are the remnants of a
Roman villa; other Hellenistic and Roman remains have
been found in the area. Late Classical, Hellenistic, and
Roman graves have come to light by the church of S.
Mauro, by the Torre Monachelle, and near the village of
Frassa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. Philipp, “Thurioi,”
RE 6 A (1937)
646-52; F. Rainey, “The Location of Archaic Greek
Sybaris,”
AJA 73 (1969) 261-73; O. H. Bullitt,
The
Search for Sybaris (1969).
W.D.E. COULSON
