MAGNA GRAECIA

( (Latin: Great Greece), ) Greek Megale Hellas, group of ancient Greek cities along the coast of southern Italy; the people of this region were known to the Greeks as Italiotai and to the Romans as Graeci. The site of extensive trade and commerce, Magna Graecia was the seat of the Pythagorean and Eleatic systems of philosophy. Euboeans founded the first colonies, Pithecussae and Cumae, about 750 BC, and subsequently Spartans settled at Tarentum; Achaeans at Metapontum, Sybaris, and Croton; Locrians at Locri Epizephyrii; and Chalcidians at Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria). Later Greek cities in Italy were offshoots of these colonies. After the 5th century, attacks by neighbouring Italic peoples, interurban strife, and malaria caused most of the cities to decline in importance. Magna Graecia was an important centre of Greek civilization. One of its cities, Croton, reputed to have the finest physicians in the Greek world, was the home of the 6th-century athlete Milo, who was six times victor in wrestling at both the Olympic and Pythian games.