Tarentum (Taras, modern Taranto), located on the southern coast of Apulia, Italy, was a Greek and then Roman city. Controlling a large area of Magna Graecia and heading the Italiote League, Tarentum, with its excellent harbour, was a strategically significant city throughout antiquity. Thus, it would play a pivotal role in the wars between Pyrrhus and Rome in the 3rd century BCE and again during the Second Punic War when Hannibal occupied southern Italy. While little remains today of ancient Tarentum's buildings, the city's museum boasts one of the largest collections of Greek pottery in the world and has many fine bronzes, gold jewellery and floor mosaics.
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Timeline
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706 BCESparta founds the colony of Tarentum in Magna Graecia.
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c. 530 BCEThe Bronze Zeus of Tarentum is sculpted.
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490 BCETarentum wins victories against the Messapians and Peucetians in Magna Graecia.
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480 BCETarentum wins victories against the Messapians and Peucetians in Magna Graecia.
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c. 475 BCEThe Messapians inflict a heavy defeat on Tarentum in Magna Graecia.
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433 BCEThe colony of Heraclea in Magna Graecia is founded by Tarentum.
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c. 400 BCE - 350 BCELife of Archytas, statesman and Pythagorean philosopher, who ruled at Tarentum.
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280 BCE - 275 BCEKing Pyrrhus of Epirus wages the Pyrrhic War against the Romans in Italy, defence of Tarentum being the pretext.
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280 BCE - 272 BCERoman war against Tarentum. Rome conquers Tarentum. Rome's dominance in lower Italy is secured.
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270 BCERome occupies Tarentum in Magna Graecia.
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218 BCE - 201 BCESecond Punic War.
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209 BCETarentum comes under Roman control during the Second Punic War.
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89 BCEThe Roman colony of Neptunia comes under the control of Tarentum.
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59 BCERoman veterans are settled at Tarentum.
