Taranto Taranto Thiruvananthapuram Category="Ancient Roman enemies and allies"Category="Ancient Spartans"Category="Coastal cities"Category="Colonies of Magna Graecia"Category="Dorian colonies"Category="Roman sites of Apulia"Category="Towns in Puglia"[image] [image]Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, southern Italy. It is the capital of Province of Taranto and is an important military and commercial port.

According to the 2001 census, it has population of 201,349. Its coordinates are 40°28′ N 17°14′ E. Its altitude is 15 metres above sea level, with a surface area of 217 km². The postal code is 74100, the phone prefix is 099, and the fiscal code L049.

Taranto is an important commercial and military port. It has well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, some shipyards for building warships, and food-processing factories.

Taranto history dates back to the 8th century BC when it was founded as a Greek colony. The ancient city was situated on a Peninsula, protected by a helm; the modern city has been built over the ancient Greek Necropolis. The islets of S. Pietro and S. Paolo (St. Peter and St. Paul) protect the bay, called Mar Grande (Big Sea), where the commercial port is located. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo (Little Sea), is formed by the old city, and there Fishing is flourishing; Mar Piccolo is a military port with a strategic importance; at the end of the 19th century, a channel was excavated to allow the military ships to enter Mar Piccolo harbour, and the ancient Greek city become an island. In addition, the islets and the coast are strongly fortified. [image] Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is also called “the city of the two seas”.

The Greek colonists called the city Taras (Τάρας), from the name of the mythical eponymous hero Taras, while the Romans, who connected the city to Rome with an extension of the Appian Way, called it Tarentum.

Taranto is also famous for the British attack on the Regia Marina base during the World War II, known as the Battle (or Night) of Taranto.

History of Taranto

The Greek period

Foundation and splendour

[image] Taranto was founded in 708 BC by Spartan immigrants. It is the only Spartan colony, and its origin is peculiar: the founders are parthenii, sons of unmarried Spartan women and Perioikoi (free men, but not citizens of Sparta); these unions were decided by the Spartans to increase the number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could become soldiers) during the bloody Messenian wars, but later they were nullified, and the sons were forced to leave. Phalanthus, the parthenian leader, went to Delphi to consult the oracle: the puzzling answer designed the harbour of Taranto as the new home of the exiles. The parthenii arrived in Apulia, and founded the city, naming it Taras after the son of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and of a local nymph, Satyrion. According to other sources, Heracles founded the city. Another tradition indicates Taras as the founder of the city; the symbol of the Greek city (as well as of the modern city) is Taras riding a dolphin. Taranto increased its power, becoming a commercial power and a sovereign city of Magna Graecia, ruling over the Greek colonies in southern Italy.

In its beginning, Taranto was a monarchy, probably modelled on the one ruling over Sparta; according to Herodotus (iii 136), around 492 BC king Aristophilides ruled over the city. The expansion of Taranto was limited to the coast because of the resistance of the populations of inner Apulia. In 472 BC, Taranto signed an alliance with Rhegion, to counter the Messapii, Peuceti, and Lucanians, but the joint armies of the Tarentines and Rhegines were defeated near Kailìa (modern Ceglie), in what Herodotus (vii 160) claims to be the greatest slaughter of Greeks in his knowledge, with 3,000 Reggians and uncountable Tarentines killed. In 466 BC, Taranto was again defeated by the Iapyges; according to Aristotle (Politica, v 1303a), there were so many aristocrats killed, that the democratic party was able to get the power, to remove the monarchy, inaugurate a democracy, and the expel the Pythagoreans. However, the rise of the democratic party did not weaken the bonds of Taranto and her mother-city Sparta. In fact, Taranto supported the Peloponnesian side against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, refused anchorage and water to Athens in 415 BC, and even sent ships to help the Peloponnesians, after the Athenian disaster in Sicily. On the other side, Athens supported the Messapians, in order to counter Taranto power.

In 432 BC, after several years of war, Taranto signed a peace treaty with the Greek colony of Thurii; both cities contributed to the foundation of the colony of Heraclea, which rapidly fell under Taranto's control.

In 367 BC Carthage and the Etruscans signed a Pact to counter Taranto's power in southern Italy.

Under the rule of its greatest statesman, strategist and army commander-in-chief, the philosopher and mathematician Archytas, Taranto reached its peak power and wealth; it was the most important city of the Magna Graecia, the main commercial port of southern Italy, it produced and exported goods to and from motherland Greece, it had the biggest army and the largest fleet in southern Italy. However, with the death of Architas in 347 BC, the city started a slow, but ineluctable decline; the first sign of the decreased power was its inability to field an army, since the Tarentines preferred to use their large wealth to hire mercenaries, rather than leave their lucrative trades.

In 343 BC Taranto appealed for aid against the barbarians to its mother city Sparta, in the face of aggression by the Brutian League. In 342 BC, Archidamus III, king of Sparta, arrived in Italy with an army and a fleet to fight the Lucanians and their allies. In 338 BC, during the Battle of Manduria, the Spartan and Tarentine armies were defeated in front of the walls of Manduria (nowadays in province of Taranto), and Archidamus was killed.

In 333 BC, still troubled by its Italic neighbours, the Tarentines called the Epirotic king Alexander Molossus to fight the Bruttii, Samnites, and Lucanians, but he was later (331 BC) defeated and killed in the battle of Pandosia (near Cosenza).

In 320 BC, a peace treaty was signed between Taranto and the Samnites.

In 304 BC, Taranto was attacked by the Lucanians, and asked for the help of Agathocles tyrant of Syracuse, king of Sicily. Agathocles arrived in southern Italy, took control of Bruttium (present-day Calabria), but was later called back in Syracuse.

In 303 BC-302 BC Cleonymus of Sparta established an alliance with Taranto against the Lucanians, and fought against them.

Wars against Rome

First contrasts

In the beginning of the 3rd century BC, Rome's increasing power started to frighten Taranto, especially for the mastery of the sea and the control over the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia. After the surrender of the Samnites in 290 BC, the Romans founded many colonies in Apulia and Lucania. Furthermore, some of the city-states in Magna Graecia, such as Rhegion, Croton and Locri, asked Rome for military help because of the wars that they were having with their neighbours; also Thurii, which was located on the Gulf of Taranto and under Tarentine rule, asked Rome for help in 282 BC, after having been attacked by Lucanians. This situation inevitably led to a conflict between Taranto and Rome, since Taranto felt Rome was interfering in the affairs of the Greek colonies in southern Italy, which the Tarentines considered under their dominion.

Two political parties were present at the time within Taranto. The democrats, led by Philocharis or Ainesias, were dominant; they were against Rome, because they knew that if the Romans entered Taranto, the Greeks would have lost their independence. The second faction in Taranto were the aristocrats, led by Agis; they had lost their power when Taranto had become a democracy, and did not oppose surrendering to Rome as it would increase their own influence on the city, by reducing the power of the democrats. However, the aristocrats did not want to surrender openly to Rome and become unpopular with the population.

At that time, Taranto had the most powerful naval forces in Italy, and hastened to come to an agreement with Rome that stated that Roman ships could not enter into the Gulf of Taranto.

In 282 BC, Rome sent a fleet under admiral Lucius Valerius, carrying troops to garrison Thurii, but ten ships were caught by a tempest, and arrived in the sea in front of Taranto, during a holy day (the festival of Dionysus). The angered Tarentines, considering it a hostile act openly in conflict with the pact, which forbade the gulf of Taranto to Roman ships, responded by attacking the Roman fleet: the Tarentine navy sunk four Roman ships, and captured a fifth (Cassius Dio, Roman History, xxxxix.4). According to some historians, Tarentine aristocrats had been asked by the Roman commanders Publius Cornelius and Lucius Valerius to arrest and execute, during the arrival of the Roman fleet, the democrats and their followers, which would allow the aristocrats to lead the city, and sign an alliance with Rome.

The army and fleet of Taranto moved to Thurii and helped the democrats there exile the aristocrats. The Roman garrison placed in Thurii withdrew.

Pyrrhic wars

[image] Romans sent diplomats to Taranto, but the talks were broken off by the Tarentines: the Roman ambassador, Postumius, was insulted and mocked by Philonides, a member of the popular party. The Senate declared war on Taranto, and the Tarentines decided to call for help from Pyrrus, king of Epirus. In 281 BC, Roman legions, under the command of Lucius Aemilius Barbula, entered Taranto and plundered it. Taranto, with Samnite and Salentinian reinforcements, then lost a battle against the Romans. After the battle, the Greeks chose Agis to sign a truce and begin diplomatic talks. These talks were also broken off when 3000 soldiers from Epirus under the command of Cineas entered the town. The Roman consul withdrew and suffered losses from attacks by the Greek ships (Zoronas viii.2).

Pyrrhus decided to help Taranto because he was in debt to them - they had earlier helped him conquer the island of Corcyra. He also knew that he could count on help from the Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttii, and some Illyrian tribes. His ultimate goal was to conquer Macedon, but did not have enough money to recruit soldiers. He planned to help Taranto, then go to Sicily and attack Carthage. After winning a war against Carthage and capturing south Italy, he would have enough money to organise a strong army and capture Macedon.

Before he left Epirus, he borrowed some phalanxes from the Macedonian king, and demanded ships and money from the Syrian king and from Antigonus II Gonatas of Antioch. The Egyptian king also promised to send 9000 soldiers and 50 war elephants. These forces had to defend Epirus while Pyrrhus was gone. He recruited soldiers in Greece as well, as the Greek cities wanted to avoid a war with Epirus, even though they were unconcerned with the Greek colonies in Italy. In the spring of 280 BC, Pyrrhus landed without losses in Italy. He had 20,000 hoplites, 500 peltasts, 2,000 archers, 3,000 elite cavalry from Thessaly, and 20 war elephants.

After hearing of Pyrrhus' arrival in Italy, the Romans mobilized eight legions with auxiliaries, totalling about 80 000 soldiers, and divided into 4 armies. Valerius Levinus marched to Taranto, with an army of 30,000 legionnaires and auxiliaries. Pyrrhus moved from Taranto to meet its allies, but met with the Roman army, and decided to fight it next to Heraclea. The Battle of Heraclea was won by Pyrrhus, but the casualties were very high. Upon his arrival in Italy, Pyrrhus thought that the Roman army would have been easily defeated by his Macedonian phalanx. However, Roman legions proved to be stronger than expected. Furthermore, Rome was able to raise a large number of legions, while Pyrrhus was far from home, and had only a handful of veterans with him.

Pyrrhus moved towards Rome, with the intention of rallying the peoples ruled by the Romans and conquering the city, but he had no success in this, and was forced to return to Apulia.

In 279 BC, Pyrrhus defeated another Roman army in the Battle of Asculum (modern Ascoli Satriano, Foggia), again with many casualties. Most of the men Pyrrhus had brought over from Epirus were disabled or dead, including nearly all of his officers and friends. Recruiting would be impossible, and his allies were unreliable. The Romans, on the other hand, quickly replaced their losses with fresh men, and with every defeat, the Romans were becoming more determined to win. At the same time, Pyrrhus received a proposal from the Sicilian Greek colonies of Syracuse, Leontini, and Agrigentum, to lead them in a war against the Carthaginians, and left Italy for Sicily, suspending the war against Rome, and leaving a garrison in Taranto.

The Tarentines called back Pyrrhus in 276 BC, and the king gladly returned from his Sicilian adventure. The war against Rome revamped, but this time Pyrrhus and the Tarentines were defeated by the Romans in the Battle of Beneventum. After six years, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus, with only 8,500 men: only a garrison was left in Taranto, under the command of Pyrrhus' vice-commander Milon.

The Romans conquered the city in 272 BC, by treachery of the Epiriotic soldiers, and demolished the defensive walls of the city.

Second Punic War

[image] During the Second Punic War, the Romans heavily garrisoned the city for fear that it might go over to Hannibal. However, a group of Tarentine hostages held at Rome were caught trying to escape and thrown from the Tarpeian Rock as traitors; probably because of this, anti-Roman feeling in the city increased greatly. Two members of the pro-Carthage faction in the city enabled Hannibal to enter the city in 212 BC, although he was not able to capture the citadel of the city which was defended by Roman troops. Because of Hannibal's failure to capture the citadel, he was not able to use Tarentum as a major port and staging area for the invasion of Italy. The army was forced to portage boats across the city in order to sail from the bay. The city supported his war against Rome, but in 209 BC the commander of the garrison betrayed the city to the Romans. Thirty thousand of the Greek inhabitants were sold as slaves and many works of art were carried off to Rome.

Roman and Byzantine periods

Roman Republic and Empire

[image] In 122 BC a Roman colony was founded next to Taranto, according to the law proposed by Gaius Sempronius Gracchus. The colony was named Neptunia, after the Roman sea god Neptune, worshipped by the Tarentines. The Roman colony was separate from the Greek city, and populated by Roman colons, but it was later unified to the main centre when Taranto become a Municipium, in 89 BC.

In 38 BC Mark Antony, Octavianus and Lepidus signed the Treaty of Tarentum, extending the Second Triumvirate until 33 BC.

Tarentum had a municipal law, Lex municipii Tarenti ; a partial copy inscribed on bronze plates was discovered in 1894 by Luigi Viola, and is now at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Naples.

During the late Republic and all the Roman Empire, Taranto was a simple provincial city (Prefecture of Italy, Diocese of Italia suburbicaria, Apulia et Calabria province). Emperor Trajan tried to counter the reduction of the population giving the Tarentine lands to his veterans, but this initiative failed. Taranto followed the story of Italy during the late Empire, with Visigoth attacks and Ostrogoth domination.

Byzantine, Longobard, Arab, and Norman dominations

Byzantine and Longobard dominations

In the wake of the Gothic wars, Taranto became part of Byzantine Empire in 540, and was ruled by them until the Lombards of the Duchy of Benevento captured it in 662. In spring 663, basileus Constans II arrived at Taranto with a fleet and an army, and defeated the Longobards: it was the first time a Byzantine Emperor arrived in Italy with an army. Next, he conquered Apulia, and went to Rome to meet Pope Vitalian. After the Emperor got back to Byzantium, a new war between the Byzantines and the Duchy of Beneventum started, and lasted for years. Duke Grimoaldus conquered the northern Apulia, his son Romoaldus, in 686, took Taranto and Brindisi from the imperial army.

In 700s, Berbers started to raid Taranto and southern Italy; their menace lasted up to the 11th century.

Arab domination

The first years of the 9th century were characterized by the internal fights that weakened the Longobard power. In 840, a Longobard prince, who was held prisoner in Taranto, was freed by his partisans, brought to Benevento, and made duke. At the same time, the Saracens took control of Taranto, exploiting the weak Longobard control. Taranto became an Arab stronghold and privileged harbour for forty years. It was from here that ships loaded with prisoners sailed to the Arab ports, where the prisoners were sold in the slave market. In the same 840, an Arab fleet left Taranto, defeated in the gulf of Taranto a Venetian fleet of 60 ships, summoned by the emperor Theophilus, and entered the Adriatic Sea, sacking the coastal cities. In 850, four Saracen columns departed from Taranto and Bari to sack Campania, Apulia, Calabria and Abruzzi. In 854, Taranto was again the base for an Arab raid, led by Abbas-ibn-Faid, which sacked the Longobard province of Salerno. Two Arab fleets arrived to Taranto, in 871 and later in 875, carrying the troops which sacked Campania and Apulia. The situation of southern Italy worried Emperor Basil the Macedonian, who decided to fight the Arabs and take the harbour of Taranto from them. In 880, two Byzantine armies, led by generals Procopius and Leo Apostyppes, and a fleet, commanded by the admiral Nasar took Taranto from the Arabs, ending a forty years dominion. Among the first actions taken by the Byzantine ruler Apostyppes was the enslavement and deportation of the Latin-Longobard original inhabitants - who had almost completely converted to Islam - and the import of Greek colons, in order to increase the population. Taranto became one of the most important cities in the Thema Longobardia, the Byzantine possession in southern Italy.

Second Byzantine domination

The city suffered from other Saracen raids, such as in 922. On 15 august 927, the Saracens, led by the Slavic Sabir, conquered and destroyed the city, enslaving and deporting to Africa all the survivors. Taranto had no inhabitants, until the Byzantine conquest in 967. The Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II Phocas understood the importance of a strong military presence and harbour in southern Italy, and rebuilt the city. He added several military fortifications, and made Taranto a stronghold of Byzantine resistance against the uprising Norman power in south Italy. However, the weakness of the Byzantine local government exposed Taranto to other Saracen raids. In 977, it was attacked by Saracens led by Abn'l-Kàsim, who took many prisoners and sacked the city, burning some parts of Taranto. In 982, emperor Otto II started his war against Saracens from Taranto, but he was defeated by Abn'l-Kàsim in the battle of Stilo (Calabria).

Norman conquest

The 11th century was characterized by a bloody struggle between Normans and Byzantines for the rule over the Tarentine and Bariot lands. In May 1060, Robert Guiscard conquered the city, but in October Taranto was re-occupied by the Byzantine army. After three years, in 1063, the Norman count Geoffrey, son of Petron I, entered in Taranto, but he was obliged to flee from it on the arrival of the Byzantine admiral Michael Maurikas. Taranto was finally conquered by the Normans: the sons of Petron elected the first Norman archbishop, Drogo, in 1071, and prepared a fleet to conquer Durazzo.

A short account of Norman conquest of Apulia is the BREVE CHRONICON NORTHMANNICUM.

Principality of Taranto (1088-1465)

Taranto became the capital of a Norman principality, whose first ruler was Robert Guiscard's son, Bohemond of Taranto, who obtained it as result of succession dispute: his father repudiated his first wife, Bohemond's mother, and had Roger Borsa, his son by his second wife Sikelgaita, succeed him as Duke of Apulia. Bohemond was compensated with Taranto and lands that covered almost all of the heel of Apulia. The principality of Taranto, during its 377 years of history, was sometimes a powerful and almost independent feudal fief of the Kingdom of Sicily (and later of Naples), sometimes only a title, often given to the heir to the crown or to the husband of a reigning queen.

The princes of Taranto were:

Hauteville (Altavilla) dynasty:

1194 - King Henry, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Sicily;

1198 - Robert;

Brienne dynasty:

Hohenstaufen (Svevia) dynasty:

Anjou (Angiò) dynasty:

Baux (Del Balzo) dynasty:

Welf or Brunswick (Este del Guelfo) dynasty:

Orsini-Del Balzo dynasty:

1465 - Ferdinand I of Naples, also known as King Ferrante, united the Principality of Taranto to the Kingdom of Naples, at the death of his wife, Isabella of Taranto (Clermont). The principality ended, but the kings of Naples continued giving the title of Prince of Taranto to their sons, firstly to the future Alfonso II of Naples, Duke of Calabria, eldest son of Isabella.

From Renaissance to unification

In March 1502, the Spanish fleet of Ferdinand II of Aragon, allied to Louis XII of France, seized the port of Taranto, and conquered the city.

1570 - Admiral Giovanni Andrea Doria set his fleet of 49 galleys in Mar Grande to repair and supply his ships. Among the people on the fleet there was Miguel de Cervantes. The fleet later united to the other parts of the Christian League, and defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto: also some Tarentine nobles took part to the battle.

1647 - The insurrection of Masaniello in Naples reached also Taranto.

1714 - After the Treaty of Rastatt, Spain was obliged to handle the Kingdom of Naples to Austria.

1746 - Taranto had 11,526 inhabitants. All of them were packed in the small island, among a high number of religious institutes and churches.

1765 - Francesco Antonio Calo', a Tarentine nobleman, started with two statues the Misteries of the Holy Week celebrations. They are today the most important and attended event of Taranto.

1799 - Between 8 February and 8 March Taranto joined the Parthenopaean Republic.

1801-15 - After the defeat of Ferdinand IV of Naples at Monteregio and the subsequent Peace of Florence, the French general Nicolas Soult occupied with 13,000 soldiers the provinces of Bari, Lecce and the harbour of Taranto. Napoleon wanted to build a stronghold to keep under pression the British base of Malta. On 23 April 1801, 6,000 French soldiers of the Armée d'observation du midi entered in Taranto (20.000 inhabitants at the time) and fortified it in order to obtain "a sort of Gibitrair" (Napoleon). On 25 March 1802, France and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens, which required France to leave South Italy, but after UK declaration of war against France, the Armée d'observation du midi returned to Taranto, under the command of general Laurent Gouvion de Saint Cyr, on 23 May 1803. Among the French officers in Taranto, there is also the novelist Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, artillery general and fortification expert, who died in Taranto on 5 September 1803. On 15 February, Joseph Bonaparte became King of Naples, and on 3 May visited the fortifications of Taranto. The presence of the French troops, and the military related works gave several advantages to Tarentine economy. With the fall of Napoleon and the defeat of Joachim Murat at the Battle of Tolentino, Southern Italy, and Taranto, returned under Bourbons rule, forming the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

1860 - On 9 September, Taranto become part of the temporary government founded by Giuseppe Garibaldi after his conquest of Two Sicilies. In the following year, the whole Southern Italy is annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which became the Kingdom of Italy. In this years Taranto has 27,000 inhabitants.

1866 - Between May and June, the newly formed Regia Marina - the Kingdom of Italy navy resulted from the unification of Sardinian, Neapolitan-Sicilian, Tuscan and Pontificial navies - was collected in Taranto harbour, in occasion of the imminent war declaration against Austria (Third Independece War). On 21 June, one day late to allow Admiral Carlo di Persano to receive Tarentine honorary citizenship, the fleet left for the Adriatic Sea. After the defeat of the Italian fleet at Lissa, Persano was put under trial for incompetence and cowardice, and his easy days in Taranto indicated as part of his bad behaviour.

Modern times

During World War I, Taranto was base for Regia Marina warships. On 2 August 1916, Leonardo da Vinci, a Conte di Cavour class battleship, sank after a sabotage; the bust of the Italian artist is still present in Villa Peripato.

On the night of 11 November 1940, during World War II, the Italian ships, which were at anchor in Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, were severely damaged by British naval forces (see Battle of Taranto). British forces landed near the port on September 9, 1943 as part of the Allied invasion (Operation Slapstick).

Historical figures

Here is a list of historical figures, who have had a relationship with the city. Not all of them were actually born in Taranto.

Miscellanea

External links