This article is about the city in Calabria. For the ancient region of Greece, see Locris. For the modern municipality in Greece, see Lokroi (municipality). For other uses, see Lokroi.
Locri is a town and comune (municipality) in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Its name derives from that of the ancient Greek region of Locris. Today it is an important administrative and cultural centre on the Ionian Coast and within its province.
Locri Epizefiri (Greek Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι; from the plural of Λοκρός, Lokros, "a Locrian" and ἐπί epi, "on", Ζέφυρος (Zephyros), West Wind, thus "The Western Locrians")[3] was founded about 680 BC on the Italian shore of the Ionian Sea, near modern Capo Zefirio, by the Locrians, apparently by Opuntii (East Locrians) from the city of Opus, but including Ozolae (West Locrians) and Lacedaemonians. Its Latin name, Locri, is the plural of the Latin Locrus, which was used both to mean an inhabitant of Locris and the eponymous ancestor of the Locrians. Strabo suggests that the Ozolian Locrians were the principal founders, while Ephorus held that the Locri was a colony of Opuntian Locris.[4]
Pinax from Locris: Persephone and Hades sitting on the throne
Due to fierce winds at an original settlement, the settlers moved to the present site. After a century, a defensive wall was built. Outside the city there are several necropoleis, some of which are very large.
Its renowned lawgiver Zaleucus decreed that anyone who proposed a change in the laws should do so with a noose about their neck, with which they should be hanged if the amendment did not pass. Plato called it "The flower of Italy", due to the local peoples' characteristics.
Locris was the site of two great sanctuaries, that of Persephone and of Aphrodite.[5] Perhaps uniquely, Persephone was worshiped as protector of marriage and childbirth, a role usually assumed by Hera, and Diodorus Siculus knew the temple there as the most illustrious in Italy.[6]
In the early centuries Locris was allied with Sparta, and later with Syracuse. It founded two colonies of its own, Hipponion and Medma.
During the 5th century BC, votive pinakes in terracotta were often dedicated as offerings to the goddess, made in series and painted with bright colors, animated by scenes connected to the myth of Persephone. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the National Museum of Magna Græcia in Reggio Calabria. Locrian pinakes represent one of the most significant categories of objects from Magna Graecia, both as documents of religious practice and as works of art.[7] In the iconography of votive plaques at Locri, her abduction and marriage to Hades served as an emblem of the marital state, children at Locri were dedicated to Persephone, and maidens about to be wed brought their peplos to be blessed.
During the Pyrrhic Wars (280-275 BC) fought between Pyrrhus of Epirus and Rome, Locris accepted a Roman garrison and fought against the Epirote king. However, the city changed sides numerous times during the war. Bronze tablets from the treasury of its Olympeum, a temple to Zeus, record payments to a 'king', generally thought to be Pyrrhus. Despite this, Pyrrhus plundered the temple of Persephone at Locris before his return to Epirus, an event which would live on in the memory of the Greeks of Italy. At the end of the war, perhaps to allay fears about its loyalty, Locris minted coins depicting a seated Rome being crowned by 'Pistis', a goddess personifying good faith and loyalty, and returned to the Roman fold.
The city was abandoned in the 5th century AD. The town was finally destroyed by the Saracens in 915. The survivors fled inland about 10 kilometres (6mi) to the town Gerace on the slopes of the Aspromonte.
Modern Locri
After 1850 Gerace developed along the coast, forming a new centre Gerace Marina, to house new public buildings and a railway station. In 1934 it changed its name in Locri, which is now the administrative centre of the Locride area. The city boasts a National Museum and an Archaeological Park.[8] Apart from the archeological sites, the town is also an important sea-side resort along the Costa dei Gelsomini, or Jasmine Coast, one of the wildest coastlines of Italy.[9]
Locri, with over 12,000 inhabitants, is an important administrative and cultural centre on the Ionian Coast, in the Italian Province of Reggio Calabria. The town is easily reached by plane; in fact, it is only 90 minutes away from the International Airport of Lamezia Terme and from the Airport of Reggio Calabria. Locri is well connected to all regional and national towns and cities by train, shuttle, taxi, and bus. The A2 autoroute makes Locri easy to reach by car, too. Sicily is accessible by ferry boat from Villa San Giovanni or Reggio Calabria, both of which are a car or a train journey away from Locri. There are several hotels, residences, hostels, and bed&breakfast establishments where tourists and visitors can find comfortable accommodation for their stay. The Tourist Information Centre can offer assistance and information on matters of accommodation. In Locri, you can find many administrative bodies and public services, such as a criminal and civil court, a revenue agency, a police station, travel agencies, three post offices (two of which have ATM facilities), banks, the State Archive, the City Hall (built in 1880), trade unions, the bishop's office, several Catholic churches, and an Indian and an Evangelical church. The city is also home to the most important hospital of the area, an emergency medical service, many private doctors, and three pharmacies. There are in the locality several state schools – including Elementary Schools, High Schools, Lyceums, and Vocational Schools – as well as private schools and two private English language schools . The city boasts a National Museum and an Archaeological Park, two cinemas, two cultural centres, a theatre, and a library. In Locri you will find many shops, restaurants, pizzerias, fast food outlets, pubs, bars, cafeterias, patisseries, farm restaurants, fruit and vegetable market halls, florists, supermarkets, and shopping malls. You also have facilities for a wide range of sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, snorkeling, fishing and diving, and, because there is nearby hilly and mountainous terrain, trekking and hiking are further options. Finally, being a seaside city, Locri can offer enjoyable walks on the sea-front boulevard or on the beach and in the summer months it plays host to an assortment of beach-side lidos.
Main sights
Ionic temple of Marasà
In the first half of the fifth century BC, the Locrians demolished their archaic temple and rebuilt a new temple in the Ionic style. The temple was designed by Syracusan architects around 470 BC, based on the idea of Hiero I of Syracuse.
The new temple occupies the same place as the previous one but it has a different orientation. The temple was destroyed in the 11th century. The dimensions of the temple were 45.5 by 19.8 metres (149 by 65ft). The cella is free of supports on the central axes. The pronaos had two columns. The temple has seventeen Ionic columns on the long side, and six on the front. The height of the temple was 12 metres (39ft).
According to Italian scholar Margherita Guarducci, the famous Ludovisi Throne comes from the temple of Aphrodite of Locri Epizephyrii, where it was used as the parapet of the bothros. This theory is strengthened by the measures of the sculpture which fit perfectly together with the three great stones of the covering of the bothros; stones still existing and open to visits inside the archaeological area of the Temple of contrada Marasà.[10]
The theatre
The theatre was built in the fourth century BC not far from the ancient city, in the Contrada Pirettina, taking advantage of a hillside slope. The original structure had space for more than 4,500 people; now only the central part of the theatre is visible.
Part of the Cavea was cut into the rocks. Each plane was divided in 7 wedges between 6 scales. A horizontal separation divided the upper theater from the lower theatre.
Ludovisi Throne
Left-hand panel of the throne: a woman playing the aulos
In 1982, the exquisite and famous Ludovisi Throne, found reused in the ancient Roman gardens of Sallust in 1887, was securely linked to the newly studied Ionic temple at Marasà, in Locri. A reconstruction of the throne was shown to fit exactly into remaining blocks in the temple's foundations, and it has been suggested that terracotta votive plaques, or pinakes, of cults at Lokri Epizefiri, are the only stylistic parallel to the Throne.[11] The marble sculpture, in its bas-relief decoration, represents on the front side Aphrodite born from the sea foam (but some scholars sees in it the representation of Persephone coming back from the Hades) and helped by two maidservants to raise from the water, while on the left side is represented a naked flute-girl seated on a cushion and playing the double-flute, and on the right side a veiled woman using an incense-burner.
↑ All demographics and other statistics from the Italian statistical institute (Istat)
↑ It was common in classical times to name a city in the plural for the name of its inhabitants and/or its eponymous deity or founder, cp. αἱ Ἀθήναι, literally "The Athenas," i.e. "Athens." See also the List of traditional Greek place names
↑ Strabo (1903). Geography. Translated by H.C. Hamilton; William Falconer. London: George Bell & Sons.
↑ See the history of the Ludovisi Throne, now thought to have come from Locris.
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone, also called Kore or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld, who would later also take her into marriage.
Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It has almost 2 million residents across a total area of 15,222 km2 (5,877 sq mi). Catanzaro is the region's capital.
Magna Graecia was the name given by the Romans to the Greek-speaking coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers starting from the 8th century BC.
Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of three distinct districts.
Locri Epizefiri was an ancient city on the Ionian Sea founded by Greeks coming from Locris at the beginning of the 7th century BC. It is now in an archaeological park near the modern town of Locri.
The Pyrrhic War was largely fought between the Roman Republic and Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war against the Romans.
The province of Catanzaro is a province of the Calabria region of Italy. The city Catanzaro is both capital of the province and capital of the region of Calabria. The province contains 80 comuni. Its provincial president is Sergio Abramo.
The Gardens of Sallust was an ancient Roman estate including a landscaped pleasure garden developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It occupied a large area in the northeastern sector of Rome, in what would become Region VI, between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, near the Via Salaria and later Porta Salaria. The modern rione is now known as Sallustiano.
Gioiosa Ionica is a town and comune in Italy in the province of Reggio Calabria, region of Calabria. It lies near the east coast of Calabria and covers an area of 35 square kilometres (14 sq mi).
Gerace is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Gerace is located some 10 kilometres (6 mi) inland from Locri, yet the latter town and the sea can be seen from Gerace's perch atop a 500-metre (1,600 ft) vertical rock. The town stands on a hill formed of conglomerates of sea fossils from 60 million years ago. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The Ludovisi Throne is an exceptional ancient sculpture from Locri, Southern Italy. Not an actual throne, the sculpture is white marble block intricately carved with bas-reliefs on its three visible sides, with its primary depiction considered by many as depicting Aphrodite rising from the sea. It originates from the transitional phase between the Archaic and Early Classical styles, circa 460 BC. Currently, it resides in the Museo Nazionale Romano of Palazzo Altemps in Rome, having been acquired by Italy in 1894.
Stilo is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is 151 kilometres (94 mi) from Reggio.
The Locrians were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Locris in Central Greece, around Parnassus. They spoke the Locrian dialect, a Doric-Northwest dialect, and were closely related to their neighbouring tribes, the Phocians and the Dorians. They were divided into two geographically distinct tribes, the western Ozolians and the eastern Opuntians; their primary towns were Amphissa and Opus respectively, and their most important colony was the city of Epizephyrian Locris in Magna Graecia, which still bears the name "Locri" to this day. Among others, Ajax the Lesser and Patroclus were the most famous Locrian heroes, both distinguished in the Trojan War. Zaleucus from Epizephyrian Locris devised the first written Greek law code, the Locrian code.
Medma or Mesma, was an ancient Greek city of Magna Graecia, on the west coast of the Bruttian peninsula, between Hipponium and the mouth of the Metaurus. The site is located at Rosarno, Province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria.
In the modern study of the culture of ancient Greece and Magna Graecia, a pinax is a votive tablet of painted wood, or terracotta, marble or bronze relief that served as a votive object deposited in a sanctuary or as a memorial affixed within a burial chamber. Such pinakes feature in the classical collections of most comprehensive museums.
The Diocese of Locri-Gerace is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Calabria. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova.
The Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria or Palazzo Piacentini is a museum in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, housing an archaeological collection from sites in Magna Graecia.
The Battle of the Sagra was fought in the 6th century BC between the Greek cities of Locri Epizefiri and Croton. The battle took place along the Sagra river. This river cannot be precisely identified, but may be the present-day Torbido or the Allaro, in the Province of Reggio Calabria, southern Italy.
Oeantheia or Oiantheia or Oeanthe (Οἰάνθη) or Euanthis (Εὐανθίς) or Euanthia (Εὐανθία) was an important town of the Ozolian Locrians, situated at the western entrance of the Crissaean Gulf. Polybius says that it is opposite to Aegeira in Achaea. Thucydides relates that during the Peloponnesian War, the Oeanthians are among several towns of the Locri Ozolae that were forced to provide hostages to the Lacedaemonian army in 426 BCE. The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax calls the town Euanthis; and since Strabo says that Locri Epizephyrii in Italy was founded by the Ozolian Locrians, under a leader named Euanthes, it has been conjectured that Oeantheia or Euantheia was the place where the emigrants embarked. Oeantheia appears to have been the only maritime city in Locris remaining in the time of Pausanias, with the exception of Naupactus. The only objects at Oeantheia mentioned by Pausanias were a temple of Aphrodite, and one of Artemis, situated in a grove above the town. The town is mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana as situated 20 miles (32 km) from Naupactus and 15 (24) from Anticyra.
A favissa is a cultic storage place, usually a pit or an underground cellar, for sacred utensils and votive objects no longer in use. Favissae were located within the sacred temple precincts of the various ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Archaeologists have found such pits in Ancient Egypt, the Roman world and in the Phoenician and Punic world.
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