Taranto
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Taranto is a city in southern Italy. It is the capital of Taranto province, and is also a port, and is located on the Gulf of Taranto, in Apulia region. It is about midway down the western coast of the peninsula that forms Italy's heel.
According to the 2001 census, it has population of 201,349. Its coordinates are 40°28' Nord and 17°14' Est. Its altitude on the sea level is 15 metres, with a surface of 217 km². The postal code is 74100, the phone prefix is 099, and the fiscal code L049.
Taranto is also a very important naval base (both commercial and military), and it has well-developed steel and iron foundries, chemical works, some shipyards for building warships, and food-processing factories.
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 S. Pietro and S. Paolo (S. Peter and S. Paul) protect the bay (Mar Grande), which is where the commercial port is. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo, 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 XIX century, a channel was excavated to allow the militar ships to enter Mar Piccolo harbour, and the ancient Greek city become an island. Also the islets and the coast are strongly fortified.
It is also famous for the British attack to the Regia Marina base during the World War II, known as the Battle (or Nigth) of Taranto
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History of Taranto
The Greek period
Taranto is founded in about 708 BC by Spartan immigrants. It is the only Spartan colony, and its origin is peculiar: the founders are Partheniae, sons of Spartan women and perioeci (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. Their leader is Phalanthus, who goes to Delphi to consult the oracle: the puzzling answer designs the harbour of Taranto as the new home of the exiles. According to other sources, it was Heracles who founded the city. Another tradition indicates Taras, son of Poseidon, 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, the Greek colonies in Southern Italy.
In its beginning, Taranto is a monarchy, probably modelled on the one ruling over Sparta. In 466 BC, Taranto is defeated by Iapyges, a native population of ancient Apulia, and the monarchy falls, with the instauration of a democracy, and the espulsion of the Pythagoreans.
In 472 BC, Taranto signs an alliance with Rhegion, to counter the Messapi, Peucezi and Lucanians (all Italic populations), but is defeated near Kailìa (mod. Ceglie).
In 432 BC, the colony of Heraclea is founded by Taranto, with the collaboration of Thurii.
In 367 BC Carthage and the Etruscans sign a pact to counter Taranto.
In 343 BC Taranto appeals for aid against the barbarian to its mother city Sparta in the face of aggression by the Bruttian League. In 342 BC, Archidamus III, king of Sparta, arrives in Italy with an army and a fleet, fighting the Lucanians and their allies. In 338 BC, during the Battle of Manduria, the Spartan and Tarantine armies are defeated in front of the walls of Manduria (nowadays in province of Taranto), and Archidamus is killed.
In 333 BC, the Epiriotic king Alexander Molossus is called by the Tarantines, to fight the Bruttii, Samnites, and Lucanians, but is later (331 BC) defeated and killed in the battle of Pandosia (near Cosenza).
In 320 BC a peace treaty is signed between Taranto and the Samnites
In 304 BC Taranto is attacked by the Lucanians, and asks for the help of Agathocles tyrant of Syracuse, king of Sicily. Agathocles arrives in Italy, takes control of Brutium (the ancient Calabria), but is called back in Syracuse.
In 303 BC-302 BC Cleonymus of Sparta establishes an alliance with Taranto against the Lucanians
Wars against Rome
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 directly 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 which stated that Roman ships could not enter into the Gulf of Taranto.
In 282 BC, Rome sent a fleet 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 Tarantines, considering it a hostile act openly in contrast with the pact which forbade the gulf of Taranto to Roman ships, responded attacking the Roman fleet: the Tarantine navy sunk four Roman ships, and captured a fifth. According to some historians, Tarantine aristocrats had been asked the Roman commanders Publius Cornelius and Lucius Valerius to arrest and execute the democrats and their followers, which would allow the aristocrats to lead the city, and to sign an alliance with Rome.
The Tarantines decided to call for help Pyrrus, king of Epirus. The army and fleet of Taranto moved to Thurii and helped the democrats there exile the aristocrats. The Roman garrison placed in Thurioi withdrew.
Rome sent diplomats to Taranto, but the talks were broken off by the Greeks: the Roman ambassador, Postumius, was insulted and mocked by the Tarentines. In 281 BC, Roman legions, under the command of Emilius Barbula entered Taranto and plundered it. Taranto, with Samnite and Sallentinian 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 Milon entered the town. The Roman consul withdrew and suffered losses from attacks by the Greek ships.
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, Bruttians, and some Illyrian tribes. His ultimate goal was to conquer Macedonia, 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 Macedonia.
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 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 Greeks in Italy. In the spring of 280 BC, Pyrrhus landed without losses in Italy. He had 20,000 phalanx, 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 8 legions with auxiliares, totalling about 80 000 soldiers, and divided into 4 armies. Valerius Levinus marched to Taranto, with an army of 30,000 legionnaires and auxiliares. Pyrrhus moved from Taranto to meet its allies, but fell into the Roman army, and decided to fight it in Heraclea. The battle was won by Pyrrhus, but the casualties were very high.
Pyrrhus moved towards Rome, with the intention of rallying the peoples ruled by the Romans and conquer the city, but he had no success in this, and forced to return Apulia.
In 279 BC, Pyrrhus defeated another Roman army in the battle of Asculum (the modern Ascoli Satriano), again with many casualities. 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, pausing the war against Rome, and leaving a garrison in Taranto.
The Tarentines called back Pyrrhus in 276 BC, and the king gladly returned from the 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.
The Romans conquered the city in 272 BC, defeating the Epiriotic garrison and demolishing the defensive walls of the city.
During the Second Punic War, Taranto was conquered by Hannibal 212 BC, but later returned to Rome, in 209 BC, ending the Greek period of Taranto.
The early middle ages
In 122 BC a Roman colony is founded in Taranto, according to the law proposed by Gaius Sempronius Gracchus.
In 38 BC Mark Antony, Octavianus and Lepidus sign the Treaty of Tarentum, extending the second triumvirate until 33 BC.
In the wake of the Gothic wars, Taranto became part of Byzantine Empire in 540.
In 661 it was captured by the Lombards.
The Saracens ruled over the town in 850-880, lost Taranto to the Byzantines, destroyed the city in 927; forty years later the Byzantines conquered and rebuild Taranto, holding it until the arrival of the Normans.
Principality of Taranto (1088-1465)
In 1063 the Norman adventurer, Robert Guiscard, conquered Taranto, making it the capital of a principality, whose first ruler was his son, Bohemond of Taranto. The principality of Taranto, during its 377 years of history, was sometimes a powerful and almost independent feud of the Kingdom of Sicily (and later of Naples), sometimes only a title, often given to the heir to the crown.
The princes of Taranto were:
Hauteville dinasty:
- 1088 - Bohemond I (1054-1111), later Bohemond I prince of Antioch;
- 1111 - Bohemond II (1108, 1130), also prince of Antioch;
- 1128 - Roger II (1093-1154), duke of Apulia, king of Sicily;
- 1132 - Tancred, son of Roger II, prince of Taranto and prince of Bari, receives the principality from his father;
- 1138 - William I, later king of Sicily, son of Roger II, becomes prince of Taranto with the death of his brother Tancred;
- 1144 - Simon, son of Roger II, becomes prince of Taranto when his brother William becomes duke of Capua;
- 1157 - William II, king of Sicily;
- 1194 - William III, king of Sicily;
1194 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Sicily;
1198 - Robert;
Brienne dinasty:
Hohenstaufen dinasty:
- 1205 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor;
- 1250 - Manfred of Sicily, son of Frederick II;
Anjou dinasty:
- 1266 - Charles I (1227-1285), defeats Manfred and is entitled by the pope king of Naples and Sicily;
- 1285 - Charles II (1248-1309), son of Charles I, king of Naples;
- 1294 - Philip I (1278-1332), son of Charles II, Prince of Achaea from 1303 to 1313, Latin Emperor from 1313 to 1332;
- 1332 - Robert of Taranto (1299-1364), Prince of Achaea from 1333 to 1346, Latin Emperor from 1346 to 1364;
- 1346 - Louis of Taranto (1308-1362), prince of Taranto and Achaia, later king of Naples;
- 1364 - Philip II (1329-1374), Prince of Achaea from 1364 to 1373, II Latin Emperor from 1364 to 1373;
- 1356 - Philip III, son of Philip II, dies in his youth, the title returns to his father;
Del Balzo (Baux) dinasty:
- 1373 - James of Baux;
Brunswick dinasty:
- 1383 - Otto (1320-1398), husband of Joan I of Naples;
Orsini Del Balzo dinasty:
- 1393 - Raimondo Orsini del Balzo, also known as Raimondello;
- 1406 - (non Orsini Del Balzo) Ladislas, king of Naples;
- 1414 - (non Orsini Del Balzo) James Bourbon of Marca, husband of Joan II of Naples.
- 1420 - Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo;
- 1463 - Isabel of Clermont, nephew of Giovanni Antonio;
1465 - Ferdinand I of Naples, also known as Ferrante, unifies the Principality of Taranto to the Kingdom of Naples, at the death of his wife, Isabel of Clermont. The principality ends, but the kings of Naples keep on giving the title of Prince of Taranto to their sons
Reinassance to unification
In 1502, on March, the Spanish fleet of Ferdinand II of Aragon, allied to Louis XII of France, seizes the port of Taranto, and conquers the city.
Modern times
In November 1940, during the World War II, the Italian ships, which were at anchor in Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, were greatly damaged by the 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 had a relationship with the city. Not all of them were actually born in Taranto.
- Archytas of Tarentum (428 BC - 347 BC), philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, strategist and commander-in-chief of the army of Taranto;
- Philolaus (circa 480 BC – circa 405 BC), mathematician and philosopher.
- Aristoxenus, peripatetic philosopher, and writer on music and rhythm;
- Leonidas of Tarentum poet;
- Livius Andronicus, poet;
- Catald, archiepiscop of Taranto, saint, and patronus;
- Giovanni Paisiello (1741 - 1816), composer;
- Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741 - 1803), napoleonic army general and novelist;
- Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald (1765 - 1840), duke of Taranto and marshal of France;
Miscellanea
- Star of David: "A David's shield has recently been noted on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in southern Italy, which may date as early as the third century of the common era."
- From the Tarpeian Rock, the Romans executed in 212 BC the traitors who gave Tarentum city to Hannibal
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