Temesa (ancient city)

Temesa (Ancient Greek: Τεμέση or Τεμέσα [Doric]), later called Tempsa, was an ancient city of Magna Graecia on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was situated close to Terina, but its precise location has not yet been found. It is thought to have been located near the Savuto river to the north of the Gulf of Sant'Euphemia. More recently Campora San Giovanni, a town near the mouth of the Savuto, has been considered as a more precise location. The archeologist Gioacchino Francesco La Torre excavated a temple outside the town in the early 2000s, which was located within the territory of Temesa.

According to Strabo it was founded by the Ausones, an Italic tribe, and was settled by Aetolian Greeks under Thoas later. It came under the control of Sybaris at some later point, but passed to Croton after it defeated Sybaris in 510/09 BC.Locri conquered Temesa at some time in the first half of the fifth century BC, probably in the 480s or 470s. Croton was disadvantaged by the loss because Temesa had valuable copper mines and opportunities for trade with the north. It founded Terina close to Temesa at this time to compensate.

Croton probably did not lose control of Temesa for long, because Temesan coins from the middle of the fifth century BC still carry Croton's tripod symbol. Based on the coins La Torre concludes that Locri's invasion did not result in the conquest of Temesa, but De Sensi Sestito disagrees with this conclusion. She thinks an unsuccessful invasion would not have explained the failure to rebuild the excavated temple or the larger decline of Temesa and its eclipse by Terina. The coins do not cover the precise period of 480 to 460 BC, and some coins from this period have Temesa's legend erased and replaced with a legend of Croton. This suggests that Croton continued to recognize and validate Temesa's coinage, but that it did not exercise control over the city itself. Nicholson thus concludes that Locri controlled Temesa possibly from around 480 to the late 460s BC.

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