Sybaris, Italy Expedition records

The ancient city of Sybaris was a Greek colony in southern Italy that formed part of a region known to the Romans as Magna Graecia. Founded by Achaeans from the city of Helice in 720 BC, it was located between the Crati and Coscile Rivers on the Gulf of Taranto, on the northeast coast of present Calabria. It flourished as a trading and wine producing center for over two centuries, and was renowned for its great wealth and the luxurious lifestyle of its citizens. References to Sybaris are well attested in ancient literature, both historical and legendary. The early site served as a mercantile center linking Greek traders from the east with Etruscans through a portage system over the Apennines to the city of Laus. The Sybarites also established colonies of their own on the western coast of Italy, notably at Poseidonia (Paestum). Sybaris was destroyed by the rival colony of Croton in 510, after which the Crotonians, according to Strabo, diverted the river Crati to flow over the site. After a series of failed attempts to reoccupy the city, fresh colonists from Greece, along with a few remaining Sybarites, founded a new Sybaris in 445 BC. Infighting resulted in its replacement in 443 by Pericles of Athens, who sent out colonists to found the city of Thurii. The new colony was reputedly near the site of Sybaris. Among the colonists was the historian Herodotus and city planner Hippodamus, famous for his grid pattern of streets, used at Thurii. The city was also for a time the refuge of Athenian general Alcibiades. Thurii flourished, and became well known for its pottery and coinage. In conflict with the local Lucanians at the beginning of the 4th Century BC, the Thurians called on Rome for military aid. As a result, Rome founded a garrison there in 282 BC. Thurii sided with Hannibal in the Second Punic War (218-203 BC), but despite this alliance was destroyed by the Carthaginian before his departure from Italy. The Romans subsequently sent troops and settlers in 194 BC to set up a new colony of Copia or Copia Thurii. The city remained a Roman garrison until at least AD 90, after which the site was gradually abandoned.

Early attempts to survey the site of Sybaris were made by F. Cavallari in 1879, and also by the Italian government in the 1930s. Difficulties arose because much of the region was still a malarial swamp until after the Second World War. The topography also included groundwater within several meters of the surface, making any digging difficult and dangerous. Nevertheless, the reputation of Sybaris as a site of extraordinary urban development and luxury, and the example of the excellent ruins of Paestum to the north, served as a reminder of what might be found below the surface, if only the exact site could be identified. A systematic and scientific expedition to survey and uncover the site of ancient Sybaris was mounted in 1961-1968, sponsored by the Lerici Foundation of Milan and led by Froelich Rainey, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The expedition was also funded in part by Philadelphia banker and philanthropist Orville H. Bullitt, who later wrote a popular account of the project. Other principal archaeologists on the project included Elizabeth K. Ralph (University Museum's Applied Science Center for Archaeology ASCA/MASCA), Ellen L. Kohler (University Museum and editor of the 1967 Rainey monograph), James Delmege (photographer), Donald Brown (archaeology and drilling), Theresa Howard Carter (University Museum, director of the 1968 season), Ward H. Austin (photogeologist), Oliver C. Colburn (University Museum research associate), and Guiseppe Foti (Superintendent of the Department of Antiquities, Calabria).

The Sybaris expedition is notable as one of the earliest archaeological projects to use modern scientific equipment and methods, including multiband infra-red aerial photography, the proton and cesium magnetometer, a magnetic gradiometer, and the Geohm, an electrical resistivity devise. Many of these instruments had been developed or advanced by the MASCA program under the supervision of Elizabeth Ralph and Varian Associates. Ralph served as deputy director of the expedition in the absence of Froelich Rainey. The excavation also included a series of standard drilling surveys, and the removal of massive amounts of earth under dangerous conditions.

The initial five-year survey period focused on the region around the Crati River, and made extensive use of the proton magnetometer and drill. After 1965, the project focused on seeking the remains of archaic buildings on the Crati Plain, using the new and more sensitive cesium magnetometer and a jeep mounted drill. In 1968 the cooperative program with the Lerici Foundation was terminated, but the museum continued its excavations under the supervision of director Theresa H. Carter. This season also included extensive aerial surveys.

The expedition focused on three principal areas of the Crati Plain. The Parco del Cavallo gave evidence of three levels of habitation: Roman, Hellenistic/Classical Greek, and Archaic Greek representative of the period of the first Sybaris (720-510 BC). The Stombi region to the north, where Archaic Greek structures were also located, produced several artifacts indicating a religious cult site devoted to Athena. The Casa Bianca area, nearest the coast, revealed mostly Roman habitation, and is now thought to be most likely the site of ancient Thurii. Concurrently with the Sybaris excavations, a project was mounted to survey the region of Torre del Mordillo (1963-1967), about seven miles inland. It was thought that this area might reveal evidence of Thurii. Although ancient habitation was uncovered, by the end of the 1967 season archaeologists had abandoned the belief that this was Thurii.

Although project directors were convinced by 1968 that they had located the ancient site of Sybaris, the costs of excavating well below the water table had become prohibitive, and the University Museum terminated its participation. Nevertheless, the Italian government, with funding from the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, Bank of the South, continued the excavations in the areas mentioned above, notably at the Parco del Cavallo. The present-day site includes an archaeological park and museum, with a large Roman theater and baths, as well as well preserved floor mosaics. Layers of archaic habitation relating to ancient Sybaris have been located in the Stombi region and in the Parco del Cavallo. Incidentally, most archeologists and excavators now believe that the inundation of ancient Sybaris was the result of a natural catastrophe, perhaps a tidal wave, and not the diversion of the River Crati by the Crotonians.

Several articles and publications document the Sybaris excavations; most useful are: Bullitt, Orville H. . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company. 1969. Colburn, Oliver C., "A Return to Sybaris" 18.2 (January 1976) Rainey, Froelich G., Carlo M. Lerici, and Orville H. Bullitt. . Rome: Lerici Editori, 1967. Rainey, Froelich, "The Location of Archaic Greek Sybaris" v.73, no.3 (July 1969), pp. 261-273.

The Sybaris, Italy expedition records consist of 4.7 linear feet of textual and graphic documents relating to the University of Pennsylvania expedition of 1962 to 1968. Some additional documents relating to data analysis and publication extend to 1977. The collection is organized into six series: correspondence, administrative documents, field notes and reports, publications, photographs, and a scrapbook. The documents originate for the most part from the records of expedition director Froelich G. Rainey, Elizabeth K. Ralph, and 1968 director Theresa H. Carter, but include many reports and analyses from other team members and consultants, most notably Ellen L. Kohler, Ward H. Austin, Sterling P. Vinson, and expedition financier and enthusiast Orville H. Bullitt. The collection contains some field notes and references to the Torre del Mordillo, Italy expedition of 1963 to 1967, but most of these documents are to be found in the Torre del Mordillo expedition records. About 15-20% of the documents in the Sybaris collection are in Italian.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

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See also Torre del Mordillo, Italy expedition records.

Corporate Name(s)

• Lerici Foundation

Geographic Name(s)

• Sybaris (Extinct city)

Personal Name(s)

• Carter, Theresa Ann Howard
• Colburn, Oliver C.
• Austin, Ward H., Jr.
• Kohler, Ellen L.
• Ralph, Elizabeth K.
• Vinson, Sterling Peter
• Rainey, Froelich, Director of the University Museum
• Bullitt, Orville H. (Orville Horwitz)

Subject(s)

• Magnetometers
• Aerial photography in archaeology