User:Tmitfc/Magna Graecia

Economy
In the cities of Magna Graecia, trade, agriculture and crafts developed. Initially oriented to the indigenous Italic populations, the trade was immediately an excellent channel of exchange with the Greeks of the motherland, even if today it is difficult to establish precisely the type of goods traded and the volume of these exchanges.

As the record left, when Greeks settlers sailing to the west in 800 BC in search for arable land in now the day of southern Italy, they found Apulia, Calabria and Sicily. With their crystalline soils, a warmer and wetter climate than the modern day, these parts of Italy were ideal for growing barley. Within a few decades, the settlers in Magna Graecia were able to export their agricultural surplus to their home country. The size of the early Greek towns says it all. Sagentum had 50’000 inhabitants, Agrigentum around 100’000, Syracuse up to 200’000 and Sybaris 100’000. These were huge towns at the time, which can even rivalling Athens. From their earliest days, these Greek colonies participated in the Mediterranean grain, wine and olive oil trade.

The prosperity of Magna Graecia lasted until the end of the Roman Empire. After the end of Roman Empire, with climate change and collapse of order in the sea, Let the economic model of Magna Graecia regress back to an agrarian society trying to be self-sufficient.

Sport
One of famous athlete is Milo of Croton, who was six times victor in wrestling at both the Olympic and Pythian games, and been record by Aristotle, Pausanias, Cicero, Herodotus, Vitruvius, Epictetus, and the author of the Suda.