{"id":23642,"date":"2014-04-04T07:59:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T06:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/?p=23642"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:58:11","slug":"magna-graecia-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/magna-graecia-n\/","title":{"rendered":"Magna Graecia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magna Graecia<\/strong> is the term applied to those parts of southern Italy and \"Magna_Graecia_svg\"<\/a>Sicily colonised by the Greeks, beginning as early as the 8th<\/sup> century BC. An interesting fact is that Philo of Alexandria<\/a> (20 BC-50 AD)\u00a0 in his On the Eternity of the World<\/i>(b) <\/sup>wrote \u201cAre you ignorant of the celebrated account which is given of that most sacred Sicilian strait, which in old times joined Sicily to the continent of Italy?\u201d <\/i>(v.139). The name \u2018Italy\u2019 was normally used in ancient times to describe the southern part of the peninsula(d)<\/sup>. Some commentators think that Philo was quoting Theophrastus<\/a>, Aristotle\u2019s successor. This would push the custom of referring to Italy as a \u2018continent\u2019 back to the time of Plato. More recently, Armin Wolf (1935- ), the German historian, when writing about Scheria<\/a> relates(a)<\/sup> that \u201cEven today, when people from Sicily go to Calabria (southern Italy) they say they are going to the “continente.” <\/i>This continuing usage is confirmed by a current travel site(c)<\/sup>. I suggest that Plato used the term in a similar fashion and can be seen as offering a more rational explanation for the use of the word \u2018continent<\/a>\u2019 in Timaeus<\/i> 25a<\/i>, adding to the idea of\u00a0 Atlantis in the Central Mediterranean.<\/p>\r\n

Giuseppe Palermo<\/a> in his 2012 book Atlantide degli italiani <\/i>is now bravely promoting the idea that Plato\u2019s Atlantis was originally located beneath the town of Acri and the surrounding region of Calabria. He supports his claim by matching measurements provided by Plato with physical features around Acri(e)<\/sup>. However surprising this idea may seem, it should be pointed out that according to Plato, \u00a0Atlanteans had\u00a0occupied southern Italy as far north as Tyrrhenia<\/a> (Timaeus<\/em> 25b & Critias<\/em> 114c).\u00a0If all\u00a0this is not true, as a second prize, Acri can at least claim to be the birthplace of the famous American bodybuilder, Charles Atlas!<\/p>\r\n

The Greeks began their gradual expansion westward between the 9th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> centuries BC, a development clearly illustrated on an excellent\u00a0series of online maps(h)<\/sup>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Understandably, they would have taken the shortest route from the Greek mainland to the heel of Italy and later on to Sicily. As they progressed with their colonisation new limits were set, and in time, exceeded. I suggest that these limits were each in turn designated the \u2018Pillars of Heracles\u2019 as they expanded. I speculate that Capo Colonna (Cape of the Column) in Calabria may have been one of those boundaries.<\/p>\r\n

Interestingly, 18th-century maps show up to five islands near the cape which are no longer visible(g)<\/sup>, suggesting the possibility that in ancient times they could have been even more extensive, creating a strait perhaps matching Plato\u2019s description. On the other hand, the Strait of Messina was<\/em> one of the locations recorded as the site of the \u2018Pillars\u2019. Considering that mariners at that time preferred to hug the coast, I would opt for the Strait of Messina <\/a>rather than the more frequently proposed Strait of Sicily<\/a>. A strait is defined as a narrow sea passage, a description that seems inappropriate for the 96 miles separating Sicily from Tunisia.<\/p>\r\n

For a brief history of the rise and fall of Magna Graecia, have a look at the classical wisdom<\/em> website(f)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

It is also noteworthy that there are\u00a0a number\u00a0of towns in Calabria where ancient Greek is still spoken(i)<\/sup>. <\/b>Similarly, back on the Peloponnese, the language of Sparta, Tsakonika, is still spoken by about 2,000 people in an area limited to 13 towns, villages and hamlets, located around the village of Pera Melana(j)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

(a)<\/sup> Wayback Machine (archive.org)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(b)<\/sup> http:\/\/www.earlychristianwritings.com\/yonge\/book35.html<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(c)<\/sup>\u00a0Four Ways to Do Sicily \u2013 Articles \u2013 Departures (archive.org)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(d)<\/sup> article Name of Italy (profilbaru.com)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(e)\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0https:\/\/www.atlantid.info\/?page_id=539<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(f)<\/sup> See: https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180824200049\/https:\/\/classicalwisdom.com\/magna-graecia-greater-greece\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(g)<\/sup> https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/1152285\/Discovery_of_Ancient_Harbour_Structures_in_Calabria_Italy_and_Implications<\/a>_for_the_Interpretation_of_Nearby_Sites<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(h)<\/sup> See: https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20141105204103\/https:\/\/learningobjects.wesleyan.edu\/greek_colonies\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(i)<\/sup> http:\/\/www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com\/mysterios-places.php<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(j) <\/sup>(BBC<\/em> Dec.16, 2020) BBC – Travel – The last speakers of ancient Sparta<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magna Graecia is the term applied to those parts of southern Italy and Sicily colonised by the Greeks, beginning as early as the 8th century BC. An interesting fact is that Philo of Alexandria (20 BC-50 AD)\u00a0 in his On the Eternity of the World(b) wrote \u201cAre you ignorant of the celebrated account which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3076,2231,1871,3562,3561,816,3075,2957,3074,968,48,221,101,6215,1080,38,2940,6596,2439],"class_list":["post-23642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acri","tag-armin-wolf","tag-calabria","tag-capo-colonna","tag-charles-atlas","tag-continent","tag-giuseppe-palermo","tag-italy","tag-magna-graecia","tag-philo-of-alexandria","tag-pillars-of-heracles","tag-scheria","tag-sicily","tag-sparta","tag-strait-of-messina","tag-strait-of-sicily","tag-theophrastus","tag-tsakonika","tag-tyrrhenia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23642"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67376,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions\/67376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}