Krathis RiverThe Krathis (or Crathis) river was named for a goatherd and was used by Kroton to destroy Sybaris. Aelian, On Animals 6. 42 (trans. Scholfield): In 510 B.C., Telys took power as king of Sybaris exiling and confiscating the estates of five hundred of the wealthiest citizens, who took refuge in Krotona. Telys sent ambassadors threatening war unless Kroton gave up the exiles, which would have meant certain death for them. According to Diodorus of Sicily, Pythagoras persuaded the Krotonians to protect the suppliants, whom they had granted political asylum. In the ensuing war Kroton defeated the far larger Sybarite forces. Kroton then destroyed the city of Sybaris by turning the course of the river Krathis, so that it inundated the site of the city and buried the ruins under the deposits that it brought down. (Diod. xii. 9, 10; Strabo vi. p. 263; Herod. v. 44; Athenae. xii. p. 521; Scymn. Ch. 337-360.) This catastrophe seems to have been viewed by many of the Greeks as a divine vengeance upon the Sybarites for their pride and arrogance, caused by their excessive prosperity, more especially for the contempt they had shown for the great festival of the Olympic Games, which they are said to have attempted to supplant by attracting the principal artists, athletes, etc., to their own public games. (Scymn. Ch. 350-360; Athen. l. c.) It is certain that Sybaris was never restored. The surviving inhabitants took refuge at Laüs and Scidrus, on the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea. An attempt was indeed made, 58 years after the destruction of the city, to establish them anew on the ancient site, but they were quickly driven out by the Crotoniats, and the fugitives afterwards combined with the Athenian colonists in the foundation of Thurii. At the present day the site is utterly desolate, and even the exact position of the ancient city cannot be determined. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybaris | Krathis RiverThe Krathis (or Crathis) river was named for a goatherd and was used by Kroton to destroy Sybaris. Aelian, On Animals 6. 42 (trans. Scholfield): In 510 B.C., Telys took power as king of Sybaris exiling and confiscating the estates of five hundred of the wealthiest citizens, who took refuge in Krotona. Telys sent ambassadors threatening war unless Kroton gave up the exiles, which would have meant certain death for them. According to Diodorus of Sicily, Pythagoras persuaded the Krotonians to protect the suppliants, whom they had granted political asylum. In the ensuing war Kroton defeated the far larger Sybarite forces. Kroton then destroyed the city of Sybaris by turning the course of the river Krathis, so that it inundated the site of the city and buried the ruins under the deposits that it brought down. (Diod. xii. 9, 10; Strabo vi. p. 263; Herod. v. 44; Athenae. xii. p. 521; Scymn. Ch. 337-360.) This catastrophe seems to have been viewed by many of the Greeks as a divine vengeance upon the Sybarites for their pride and arrogance, caused by their excessive prosperity, more especially for the contempt they had shown for the great festival of the Olympic Games, which they are said to have attempted to supplant by attracting the principal artists, athletes, etc., to their own public games. (Scymn. Ch. 350-360; Athen. l. c.) It is certain that Sybaris was never restored. The surviving inhabitants took refuge at Laüs and Scidrus, on the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea. An attempt was indeed made, 58 years after the destruction of the city, to establish them anew on the ancient site, but they were quickly driven out by the Crotoniats, and the fugitives afterwards combined with the Athenian colonists in the foundation of Thurii. At the present day the site is utterly desolate, and even the exact position of the ancient city cannot be determined. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybaris |