Lucania otherwise called Basilicata is a region in the south of Italy, bordering Campania to the west, Puglia to the east, Calabria to the south, it has one short coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea and another of the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea to the south-east. The region covers 9,992 km² and in 2001 had a population of 597,768 (pop. density 60) The regional capital is Potenza. The region is divided into two provinces: Potenza and Matera.
The region is as a whole mountainous, the highest point of the southern Apennines being Monte Pollino (7325 ft). Monte Vulture, in the northwest corner (Vulture area), is an extinct volcano (4365 ft). The mountainous terrain made communications difficult until modern times, and Basilicata was one of the least developed provinces of Italy. Basilicata also used to be one of the poorest regions in Italy, but has become significantly richer over the past couple of years because of the discovery of oil.
History
In Roman times the district was called Lucania and was administered together with the district of Bruttium (inhabited by the Bruttii), to the south. The district of Lucania was so called from the people bearing the name Lucani (Lucanians), who invaded the country about the middle of the 5th century BC, driving the indigenous tribes, known to the Greeks as Oenotrians, Chones, and Leuterni (or Leutarni), into the mountainous interior. The coasts on both sides were occupied by powerful Greek colonies, part of Magna Graecia.
The Lucanians were engaged in hostilities with the Greek colony of Taras/Tarentum, and with Alexander, king of Epirus, who was called in by the Tarentine people to their assistance, in 326 BC, thus providing a precedent for Epirote interference in the affairs of Magna Graecia.
In 298, Livy records, they made alliance with Rome, and Roman influence was extended by the colonies of Venusia (291), Paestum (Greek Posidonia, refounded in 273), and above all Roman Tarentum (refounded in 272). Subsequently, however, the Lucanians suffered by choosing the losing side in the various wars on the peninsula in which Rome took part. They were sometimes in alliance with Rome, but more frequently engaged in hostilities, during the Samnite wars. When Pyrrhus of Epirus landed in Italy, 281 they were among the first to declare in his favor, and after his abrupt departure they were reduced to subjection, in a ten year campaign (272). Enmity continued to run deep; they espoused the cause of Hannibal during the Second Punic War (216), and Lucania was ravaged by both armies during several campaigns. The country never recovered from these disasters, and under the Roman government fell into decay, to which the Social War, in which the Lucanians took part with the Samnites against Rome (90 - 88 BC), gave the finishing stroke. In the time of Strabo the Greek cities on the coast had fallen into insignificance, and owing to the decrease of population and cultivation malaria began to obtain the upper hand. The few towns of the interior were of no importance. A large part of the province was given up to pasture, and the mountains were covered with forests, which abounded in wild boars, bears and wolves.
Lucania was an ancient district of southern Italy, extending from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. To the north it adjoined Campania, Samnium and Apulia, and to the south it was separated by a narrow isthmus from the district of Bruttium. It thus comprised almost all the modern province of the Basilicata, with the greater part of the province of Salerno and a portion of that of Cosenza. The precise limits were the river Silarus on the north-west, which separated it from Campania, and the Bradanus, which flows into the Gulf of Tarentum, on the north-east; while the two little rivers Laus and Crathis, flowing from the ridge of the Apennines to the sea on the west and east, marked the limits of the district on the side of the Bruttii.
Almost the whole is occupied by the Apennines, here an irregular group of lofty masses. The main ridge approaches the western sea, and is continued from the lofty knot of mountains on the frontiers of Samnium, nearly due south to within a few miles of the Gulf of Policastro, and thenceforward is separated from the sea by only a narrow interval until it enters the district of the Bruttii. Just within the frontier of Lucania rises Monte Pollino, 7325 ft., the highest peak in the southern Apennines. The mountains descend by a much more gradual slope to the coastal plain of the Gulf of Tarentum. Thus the rivers which flow to the Tyrrhenian Sea are of little importance compared with those that descend towards the Gulf of Tarentum. Of these the most important are the Bradanus (Bradano), the Casuentus (Basento), the Aciris (Agri), and the Siris (Sinni). The Crathis, which forms at its mouth the southern limit of the province, belongs almost wholly to the territory of the Bruttii, but it receives a tributary, the Sybaris (Coscile), from the mountains of Lucania. The only considerable stream on the western side is the Silarus (Sele), which constitutes the northern boundary, and has two important tributaries in the Calor (Calore Lucano or Calore Salernitano) and the Tanager (Tanagro or Negro) which joins it from the south.
The district of Lucania was so called from the people bearing the name Lucani (Lucanians) by whom it was conquered about the middle of the 5th century BC. Before that period it was included under the general name of Oenotria, which was applied by the Greeks to the southernmost portion of Italy. The mountainous interior was occupied by the tribes known as Oenotrians and Choni, while the coasts on both sides were occupied by powerful Greek colonies which doubtless exercised a protectorate over the interior (see Magna Graecia). The Lucanians were a southern branch of the Samnite or Sabellic race, who spoke the Oscan language. We know from Strabo that they had a democratic constitution save in time of war, when a dictator was chosen from among the regular magistrates. A few Oscan inscriptions survive, mostly in Greek characters, from the 4th or 3rd century B.C., and some coins with Oscan legends of the 3rd century (see Conway, Italic Dialects, p. II sqq.; Mommsen, C.I.L. x. p. 2I; Roehl, Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae, 547). The Lucanians gradually conquered the whole country (with the exception of the Greek towns on the coast) from the borders of Samnium and Campania to the southern extremity of Italy. Subsequently the inhabitants of the peninsula, now known as Calabria, broke into insurrection, and under the name of Bruttians established their independence, after which the Lucanians became confined within the limits already described. After this we find them engaged in hostilities with the Tarentines, and with Alexander, king of Epirus, who was called in by that people to their assistance, 326 B.c. In 298 B.C. (Livy x. II seq.) they made alliance with Rome, and Roman influence was extended by the colonies of Venusia (291 B.C.), Paestum (273), and above all Tarentum (272). Subsequently they were sometimes in alliance, but more frequently engaged in hostilities, during the Samnite wars. On the landing of Pyrrhus in Italy (281 B.C.) they were among the first to declare in his favor, and found themselves exposed to the resentment of Rome when the departure of Pyrrhus left his allies at the mercy of the Romans. After several campaigns they were reduced to subjection (272 B.C.). Notwithstanding this they espoused the cause of Hannibal during the Second Punic War (216 B.C.), and their territory during several campaigns was ravaged by both armies. The country never recovered from these disasters, and under the Roman government fell into decay, to which the Social War, in which the Lucanians took part with the Samnites against Rome (90-88 B.C.) gave the finishing stroke. In the time of Strabo the Greek cities on the coast had fallen into insignificance, and owing to the decrease of population and cultivation the malaria began to obtain the upper hand. The few towns of the interior were of no importance. A large part of the province was given up to pasture, and the mountains were covered with forests, which abounded in wild boars, bears and wolves. There were some fifteen independent communities, but none of great importance.
For administrative purposes under the Roman empire, Lucania was always united with the district of the Bruttii, a practice continued by Theodoric . The two together constituted the third region of Augustus.
The towns on the east coast were Metapontum, a few miles south of the Bradanus; Heraclea, at the mouth of the Aciris; and Sins, on the river of the same name. Close to its southern frontier stood Sybaris, which was destroyed in 510 ac., but subsequently replaced by Thurii. On the west coast stood Posidonia, known under the Roman government as Paestum; below that came Elea or Velia, Pyxus, called by the Romans Buxentum, and Laus, near the frontier of the province towards Bruttium. Of the towns of the interior the most considerable was Potentia, still called Potenza. To the north, near the frontier of Apulia, was Bantia (Aceruntia belonged more properly to Apulia); while due south from Potentia was Grumentum, and still farther in that direction were Nerulum and Muranum. In the upland valley of the Tanagrus were Atina, Forum Popilii and Consilinum; Eburi (Eboli) and Volceii (Buccino), though to the north of the Silarus, were also included in Lucania. The Via Popillia traversed the district from N. to S., entering it at the NW. extremity; the Via Herculia, coming southwards from the Via Appia and passing through Potentia and Grumentum, joined the Via Popillia near the S.W edge of the district: while another nameless road followed the east coast and other roads of less importance ran W. from Potentia to the Via Popillia, N.E. to the Via Appia and E. from Grumentum to the coast at Heraclea.
