city state · Italy
Heraclea Lucania
Origins
After Taras and Thurii fought over the territory of ruined Siris, they settled the dispute by founding a new city together in 433 or 432 BCE, with Taras taking the lead. Heraclea was built on a plateau near the Siris and Aciris rivers, at modern Policoro.
Rule and society
Heraclea was dominated by Taras, which moved the meeting place of the Italiote League there in the 4th century BCE, and it held the league's festival. The city prospered from farming the coastal plain. The bronze Tables of Heraclea, found in 1732, record on one side Greek temple land surveys and on the other a Roman municipal law of the 1st century BCE.
Decline and legacy
In 280 BCE Pyrrhus defeated the Romans under Laevinus at Heraclea, using elephants. In 278 BCE Heraclea made a treaty with Rome on very favourable terms. It became a Roman municipium after the Social War and declined in late antiquity.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- Heraclea Lucania was a vassal of Roman Republic278 BCE – 89 BCE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Heraclea Lucania. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/heraclea-lucania
- MLA
- “Heraclea Lucania.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/heraclea-lucania. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Heraclea Lucania.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/heraclea-lucania.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Heraclea Lucania’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/heraclea-lucania (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻