Tarent

Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.

Founded by Spartans in the 8th century BC during the period of Greek colonisation, Taranto was among the most important ''poleis'' in Magna Graecia, becoming a cultural, economic and military power that gave birth to philosophers, strategists, writers and athletes such as Archytas, Aristoxenus, Livius Andronicus, Heracleides, Iccus, Cleinias, Leonidas, Lysis and Sosibius. By 500 BC, the city was among the largest in the world, with a population estimated up to 300,000 people. The seven-year rule of Archytas marked the apex of its development and recognition of its hegemony over other Greek colonies of southern Italy.

During the Norman period, it became the capital of the Principality of Taranto, which covered almost all of the heel of Apulia.

Taranto is now the third-largest continental city in southern Italy (south of Rome, roughly the southern half of the Italian peninsula), with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards and food-processing factories. Taranto will host the 2026 Mediterranean Games.

Overview

Taranto's pre-history dates back to 706 BC when it was founded as a Greek colony, established by the Spartans. The ancient city was situated on a peninsula; the modern city has been built over the ancient Greek city of which only a few ruins remain, including part of the city wall, two temple columns dating to the 6th century BC, and tombs.

The Greek colonists from Sparta called the city Taras (, gen. ) after the mythical hero Taras, while the Romans, who connected the city to Rome with an extension of the Appian Way, called it Tarentum.

The islets of '' S. Pietro'' and '' S. Paolo'' (St. Peter and St. Paul), collectively known as Cheradi Islands, protect the bay, called ''Mar Grande'' (''Big Sea''), where the commercial port is located. Taranto is known for the large population of dolphins and other cetaceans living near these islands. Another bay, called ''Mar Piccolo'' (''Little Sea''), is formed by the peninsula of the old city and has flourishing fishing.

At the end of the 19th century, a channel was excavated to allow naval ships to enter the ''Mar Piccolo'' harbour, and the ancient Greek city become an island connected to the mainland by bridges. The islets and the coast are strongly fortified and ''Mar Piccolo'' is a naval port with strategic importance. Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is also called "the city of the two seas".
The natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the Italian naval fleet before and during the First World War. During World War II, Taranto became famous for a November 1940 British air attack on the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) base stationed here, which today is called the Battle of Taranto.

The city's name is the origin of the common name "tarantula", originating from the terms tarantella, tarantism and tarantula — although no spider species of the family Theraphosidae inhabit the area. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, residents of Taranto who believed they had been bitten by the large local Wolf Spider, '' Lycosa tarentula'', would claim to fall ill with tarantism, a disease marked by melancholy and, in its most extreme form, bouts of aggressive, manic behavior. One cure was believed to be performing a long vigorous dance like a jig, in order to sweat the venom out of their pores — even though the wolf spider's venom is not fatal to humans. The frenetic dance is believed to be an early origin of the Tarantella dance.

In geology, Taranto gives its name to the Tarantian Age of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Physical geography

Taranto faces the Ionian Sea. It is above sea level. It was built on a plain running north/north-west–southeast, and surrounded by the Murgia plateau from the north-west to the east. Its territory extends for and is mostly underwater. It is characterised by three natural peninsulas and a man-made island, formed by digging a ditch during the construction of Aragon Castle. The city is known as the "city of two seas" because it is washed by the Big Sea in the bay between Punta Rondinella to the northwest and Capo San Dante to the south, and by the vast reservoir of the Little Sea.

Big Sea and Little Sea

The Big Sea (or "Mare Grande") is frequently known as the ''Big Sea bay'' as that is where ships harbour. It is separated from the Little Sea (or "Mare Piccolo") by a cape which closes the gulf, leading to the artificial island. This island formed the heart of the original city and it is connected to the mainland by the Ponte di Porta Napoli and the Ponte Girevole. The Big Sea is separated from the Ionian Sea by the Capo San Vito, the Isole Cheradi of St Peter and St Paul, and the three islands of San Nicolicchio, which are completely incorporated by the ILVA steelworks. The latter form a little archipelago which closes off the arc creating the natural Big Sea bay.

The Little Sea is considered to be a lagoon so it presents problems of water exchange. It is virtually divided into two by the Ponte Punta Penna Pizzone, which joins the Punta Penna to the Punta Pizzone. The first of these forms a rough triangle, whose corners are the opening to the east and the Porta Napoli channel linking it to the Big Sea in the west. The second half forms an ellipse whose major axis measures almost from the south-west to the north-east. The Galeso river flows into the first half.

The two water bodies have slightly different winds and tides and their underwater springs have different salinities. These affect the currents on the surface and in the depths of the Big Sea and the two halves of the Little Sea. In the Big Sea and in the northern part of the Little Sea, there are some underwater springs called citri, which carry undrinkable freshwater together with salt water. This creates the ideal biological conditions for cultivating Mediterranean mussels, known locally as ''cozze''.

Climate

The climate of the city, recorded by the weather station situated near the Grottaglie Military Airport, is a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, typical of the Mediterranean with frequent continental features.

The spring is usually mild and rainy, but it is not uncommon to have sudden cold spells from the north and east, which often cause snowfall. Average annual precipitation is fairly low (even for southern Italy), measuring just per year.

The summer is hot and humid, with temperatures averaging .

On 28 November 2012 a large F3 tornado hit the port of Taranto and damaged the Taranto Steel Mill; about 20 workers were injured, and another man was reported missing.

It is classified as Geographical zone C and having a degree-day of 30.

History

Taranto was founded in 706 BC by Dorian Greek immigrants hailing from Sparta. Its origin is peculiar: the founders were Partheniae ("sons of virgins"), sons of unmarried Spartan women and ''Perioeci'' (free men, but not citizens of Sparta); these out-of-wedlock unions were permitted extraordinarily by the Spartans to increase the prospective number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could become soldiers) during the bloody Messenian Wars, but later they were retroactively nullified, and the sons were then obliged to leave Greece forever. Phalanthus, the Parthenian leader, went to Delphi to consult the oracle: the puzzling answer designated the harbour of Taranto as the new home of the exiles. The Partheniae arrived in Apulia, and founded the city, naming it ''Taras'' after the son of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and of a local nymph, According to other sources, Heracles founded the city. Another tradition indicates Taras as the founder of the city; the symbol of the Greek city (as well as of the modern city) depicts the legend of Taras being saved from a shipwreck by riding a dolphin that was sent to him by Poseidon. Taranto increased its power, becoming a commercial power and a sovereign city of Magna Graecia.

Its independence and power came to an end as the Romans expanded throughout Italy. Taranto won the first of two wars against Rome for the control of Southern Italy: it was helped by Pyrrhus, king of Greek Epirus, who surprised Rome with the use of war elephants in battle, a thing never seen before by the Romans. Rome won the second war in 272 BC. This subsequently cut off Taranto from the centre of Mediterranean trade, by connecting the Via Appia directly to the port of Brundisium (Brindisi).

Ancient art

Like many Greek city states, Taras issued its own coins in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The denomination was a Nomos, a die-cast silver coin whose weight, size and purity were controlled by the state. The highly artistic coins presented the symbol of the city, Taras being saved by a dolphin, with the reverse side showing the likeness of a hippocamp

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