Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SIRIS Ancient city PUGLIA" .
SIRIS (Ancient city) PUGLIA
Siris (Siris: Eth. Sirites, but also Sirinos; Sirites), an ancient
city of Magna Graecia, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name flowing
into the Tarentine gulf, and now called the Sinno. There is no doubt that Siris
was a Greek colony, and that at one time it attained to a great amount of wealth
and prosperity; but its history is extremely obscure and uncertain; Its first
origin was generally ascribed to a Trojan colony; and, as a proof of this, [p.
1013] an ancient statue of Minerva was shown there which claimed to be the true
Trojan Palladium (Strab. vi. p. 264; Lycophr. Alex. 978-985). Whatever may have
been the origin of this legend, there seems no doubt that Siris was originally
a city of the Chones, the native Oenotrian inhabitants of this part of Italy (Strab.
l. c.). A legend found in the Etymologicon (s. v. Siris), according to which the
city derived its name from a daughter of Morges, king of the Siculi, evidently
points in the same direction, as the Morgetes also were an Oenotrian tribe. From
these first settlers it was wrested, as we are told, by a body of Ionian colonists
from Colophon, who had fled from their native city to avoid the dominion of the
Lydians. (Strab. l. c.; Athenae. xii. p. 523.) The period of this emigration is
very uncertain; but it appears probable that it must have taken place not long
after the capture of the city by Gyges, king of Lydia, about 700-690 B.C. Archilochus,
writing about 660 B.C., alludes to the fertility and beauty of the district on
the banks of the Siris; and though the fragment preserved to us by Athenaeus does
not expressly notice the existence of the city of that name, yet it would appear
from the expressions of Athenaeus that the poet certainly did mention it; and
the fact of this colony having been so lately established there was doubtless
the cause of his allusion to it (Archil. ap. Athen. xii. p. 523). On the other
hand, it seems clear from the account of the settlement at Metapontum (Strab.
vi. p. 265), that the territory of Siris was at that time still unoccupied by
any Greek colony. We may therefore probably place the date of the Ionian settlement
at Siris between 690 and 660 B.C. We are told that the Ionic colonists gave to
the city the name of Polieum (Polieion, Strab. vi. p. 264; Steph. B. s. v. Siris);
but the appellation of Siris, which it derived from the river, and which seems
to have been often given to the whole district (he Siris, used as equivalent to
he Siritis), evidently prevailed, and is the only one met with in common use.
Of the history of Siris we know literally nothing, except the general fact of
its prosperity, and that its citizens indulged in habits of luxury and effeminacy
that rivalled those of their neighbours the Sybarites. (Athen. xii. p. 523.) It
may be received as an additional proof of their opulence, that Damasus, a citizen
of Siris, is noticed by Herodotus among the suitors for the daughter of Cleisthenes
of Sicyon, about 580-560 B.C., on which occasion Siris and Sybaris among the cities
of Italy alone furnished claimants. (Herod. vi. 127.) This was probably about
the period that Siris was at the height of its prosperity. But an Ionian city,
existing as it did in the midst of the powerful Achaean colonies, must naturally
have been an object of jealousy to its neighbours; and hence we are told that
the Metapontines, Sybarites, and Crotoniats formed a league against Siris; and
the war that ensued ended in the capture of the city, which appears to have been
followed by the expulsion of the inhabitants (Justin. xx. 2). The date of the
destruction of Siris cannot be fixed with any approach to certainty: it was probably
after 550 B.C., and certainly preceded the till of its rival Sybaris in B.C. 510.
Its ruin appears to have been complete, for we meet with no subsequent mention
of the city, and the territory is spoken of as open to colonisation at the time
of the Persian War, B.C. 480. (Herod. viii. 62.)
Upon that occasion we learn incidentally that the Athenians considered
themselves as having a claim of old standing to the vacant district of the Sirites,
and even at one time thought of removing thither with their wives and families.
(Herod. l. c.) The origin of this claim is unknown; but it seems pretty clear
that it was taken up by the Athenian colonists who established themselves at Thurii
in B.C. 443, and became the occasion of hostilities between them and the Tarentines.
These were at length terminated by a compromise, and it was agreed to found in
common a fresh colony in the disputed territory. This appears to have been at
first established on the site of the ancient city, but was soon after transferred
to a spot 3 miles distant, where the new colony received the name of Heracleia,
and soon rose to be a flourishing city. (Strab. vi. p. 264; Diod. xii. 36.) According
to Strabo, Siris still continued to exist as the port or naval station of Heracleia;
but no other mention of it is found, and it is not clear whether Strabo himself
meant to speak of it as still subsisting in his day. No remains of it are extant,
and the exact site does not appear to have been determined. But it may be placed
on the left bank of the river Siris (now called the Sinno), at or near its mouth;
a position which well accords with the distance of 24 stadia (3 miles) from Heracleia,
the remains of which are visible at Policoro, near the river Agri, the ancient
Aciris.
The river Siris is mentioned by Lycophron (Alex. 982), as well as
by Archilochus in a passage already cited (ap. Athen. xii. p. 523); but the former
author calls it Sinis, and its modern name of Sinno would seem to be derived from
an ancient period; for we find mention in the Tabula of a station 4 miles from
Heracleia, the name of which is written Semnum, probably a corruption for Ad Simnum
or Sinnum. The Siris and Aciris are mentioned in conjunction by Pliny as well
as by Strabo, and are two of the most considerable streams in Lucania. (Plin.
iii. 11. s. 15; Strab. vi. p. 264.) The name of the former river is noticed also
in connection with the first great battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, B.C.
280, which was fought upon its banks (Plut. Pyrrh. 16). It has been absurdly confounded
by Florus and Orosius with the Liris in Campania. (Flor. i. 18. § 7; Oros. iv.
1.)
The fertile district of the Siritis (he Siritis or Seiritis) is a
portion of the level tract or strip of plain which borders the gulf of Tarentum
from the neighbourhood of Rocca Imperiale to the mouth of the Bradano. This plain
stretches inland from the mouth of the Sinno to the foot of the hill on which
stands the modern city of Tursi, about 8 miles from the sea. It is a tract of
extraordinary natural fertility, but is now greatly neglected, and, in common
with all this coast, desolated by malaria.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Now Torre di Senna, an ancient Greek town in Lucania at the mouth of the preceding river.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!