Laüs
| Λᾶος Laos |
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Stater of Laüs with man-headed bull, c. 510-500 BCE
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 Shown within Italy
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| Alternate name | Laus |
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| Location | Marcellina, Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy |
| Region | Magna Graecia |
| Coordinates | 39°46′3″N 15°49′50″E / 39.76750°N 15.83056°ECoordinates: 39°46′3″N 15°49′50″E / 39.76750°N 15.83056°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| Area | 60 ha (150 acres) |
| History | |
| Periods | Archaic Greek to Roman Republican |
| Cultures | Greek, Lucanian |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | First between 1929 and 1932 |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Public |
| Management | Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Calabria |
| Public access | No, closed at the moment |
| Website | ArcheoCalabriaVirtual |
Laüs or Laus (Ancient Greek: Λᾶος; Italian: Laos) was an ancient city of Magna Graecia on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was a colony of Sybaris at the mouth of the Lao River, which formed the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium in ancient times. The river and the city have the same name in Ancient Greek. Today the archaeological site of the city can be found at a short distance to the east of Marcellina, a frazione of the comune of Santa Maria del Cedro in Calabria.
Little is known about its foundation or history. Herodotus states that the inhabitants of Sybaris who had survived the destruction of their city in 510 BCE took refuge in Laüs and Scidrus.Diodorus Siculus seems to imply that that city had been captured by the Lucanians before or during 390 BCE. He writes that the army of Thurii had repelled a force of the Lucanians which had attacked their territory in 390 BCE. The Lucanians then withdrew to their own territory and Thurians pursued them to lay siege to the "prosperous" town of Laüs. On the way to Laüs the Thurians were ambushed and crushed by the Lucanians.
Strabo describes the city as still being in existence in his time. He mentions a heroon to Draco, a companion of Odysseus, stood there. The first edition of Strabo's Geographica was published in 7 BCE and the last no later than 23 CE. Pliny the Elder, whose Natural History was published in approximately 77–79 CE, states that the city no longer existed in his time.
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