Sybaris

Sybaris, an ancient city of Magna Græcia, stood on the Gulf of Tarentum, and was founded about 720 B.C. by colonists from Achæa and Troezen. The fertility of its soil and its liberal policy favoured commerce, and the city flourished and became very prosperous. Its citizens led such luxurious and self-indulgent lives that their name became a by-word amongst the peoples of antiquity. Quarrels between the democratic and oligarchic factions led in 510 B.C. to a war with the neighbouring colony of Crotona (q.v.), in which the forces of the Sybarites were totally routed, their city captured, and the site where it stood obliterated by the victors, who turned upon its ruins the waters of the adjacent river Crathis. See THURI.