city state · Italy

Rhegion

720 BCE – 270 BCE (approx.) · capital Rhegion

Greek city on the toe of Italy guarding the Strait of Messina, which under the tyrant Anaxilas controlled both shores of the strait.

Origins

Chalcidians from Euboea, joined by exiles from Messenia, founded Rhegion around 720 BCE at the southern tip of Calabria, on the Delphic oracle's advice according to tradition. Facing Zancle across the Strait, it controlled shipping between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas.

Rule and society

Rhegion adopted the laws of Charondas and was ruled by an aristocracy of Messenian descent until Anaxilas made himself tyrant around 494 BCE. He seized Zancle, renamed it Messana, and allied with Carthage. The city was later a democracy and an ally of Athens. The lyric poet Ibycus and the sculptor Pythagoras came from Rhegion. Its coins showing a lion's head and a hare are well known.

Decline and legacy

Dionysius I captured and destroyed Rhegion in 387 BCE, but it revived. In 280 BCE, during the war with Pyrrhus, a Roman garrison of Campanian troops seized the city; Rome retook it in 270 BCE and executed the mutineers. It remained a Greek-speaking ally, later Rhegium Iulium, and is today Reggio Calabria.

Connections (3)

  • Zancle was conquered by Rhegion490 BCE – 461 BCE
  • Rhegion was conquered by Syracuse387 BCE – 351 BCE
  • Rhegion was conquered by Roman Republic270 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Rhegion. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/rhegion
MLA
“Rhegion.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/rhegion. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Rhegion.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/rhegion.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Rhegion’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/rhegion (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻