Heraclea (Policoro) - History

Heraclea ('Ηράκλεια in greek) was an ancient city of Magna Grecia, located near Policoro in Lucania, that takes its name from Herakles. It was founded by settlers from Tarentum and Thurii around 434 B.C. on a hill between the rivers Agri and Sinni on the ruins of the city of Siris, and in 374 BC was chosen as the capital of the Italiot League instead of Thurii that had fallen into the hands of the Lucanian. In 280 B.C. the city was the scene of the Battle of Heraclea between Rome and Tarentum. Always around 280 B.C. Heraclea became a confederate city of Rome. This is also the period of the tables of Heraclea, now preserved at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. They are bronze plates with texts in greek on the public and constitutional order of the city. On the back of these the Lex Iulia Municipalis is transcribed. At the end of the war between Rome and Tarentum, Heraclea fell under Roman control. In 212 B.C. the city was besieged and conquered by Hannibal. Later he became again a flourishing city and its inhabitants were described as Nobiles Homines by Cicero in Pro Archie, the defense of the poet Archie, a citizen of Heraclea. In 89 B.C. the inhabitants of Heraclea had Roman citizenship with Lex Plautia Papiria. During the Republican period, Heraclea was troubled by social unrest, with the passage of Spartacus in 72 B.C. The people then took refuge in the upper part of the city. In the imperial age its decline began. Today you can visit its ruins in the National Museum of Siritide in Policoro. You can see also the rests of the Temple of Athena and the Temple of Demeter. Remains of the ancient Acropolis were preserved. In the south and west part there are the necropolis.