
According to the myth, Phalantos was saved by a dolphin (hence the depiction as a dolphin rider). Another episode reports that Phalantos and his men were shipwrecked off the coast of Italy. He found shelter with the Japygen, where he died and was also buried. Phalantos himself was also expelled after a discussion with his fellow citizens. The occupation of the area took place without much resistance from the local population, the Japygen, who were forced to flee to Brindisi. They saw better trading opportunities in the new city. Years later, the Spartan settlers moved to the future Taras. A seaside resort still exists today under the Italianised name of Saturo, a few kilometres from Taranto. So he founded his city and named it Satyrion.

Since the rebels could not be sentenced to death like the slaves, they had to leave the city and seek new land.īefore leaving, Phalantos consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who, through the priestess, pronounced the following verdict: „If it will rain in clear skies, you will conquer new land and city.“ When Phalantos was on board on a long voyage towards Japygia (modern Apulia) and saw his wife crying Aithra („serene sky“), he thought that the oracle had come true. They demanded from the nobles the rights they had been denied. At the end of the 8th century BC, after a long war against the Messenians, the Parthenians, together with the slaves, organised a revolt and were led by Phalantos. As illegitimate children, they did not have equal rights and were treated as outsiders. The Parthenians were illegitimate sons born during times of war and the absence of the army. The legends of the colonisation of Taranto are handed down in detail by Pausanias and Strabon, who also quotes many earlier authors. Before that, he is said to have founded Satyrion, about 13 km southeast of Taranto. According to ancient authors, he is the founder of Taranto. Phalantos, also Phalanthos, was the son of the Spartan Aratos and leader of the Parthenians („virgin sons“). The two most common and well-known are those of Phalantos and Taras. There are various ancient foundation stories as well as mythological legends surrounding the founding of the city of Tarentum.

Taras Phalanthos, preparing to throw trident, astride dolphin left to right, owl standing left, head facing. Nude youth crowning and riding horse left.

Wonderful presentation with the attributes trident and owl. Finally, this thesis also intends to illustrate the central role that Celtic and central and southern Italians appear to have played in the development and transmission of this remarkably similar military equipment across the western Mediterranean.Nomos of the Magna Graecia Period 272/240 BC Indeed, the corpus of archaeological evidence examined in this work demonstrates that Roman armies, which in the years following 338 consisted of up to fifty percent allies (many of whom had served in Carthaginian and Syracusan armies since the fifth century) were fighting with remarkably similar weapons and tactics as their wider western Mediterranean contemporaries. Therefore, this thesis refutes the traditional Roman-centric literary narratives that promoted a sense of Roman military exceptionalism during the fourth and early third centuries BC. It intends to illustrate that this similar extension of hegemony and socio-political power dynamics worked together with their frequent employment of similar troops, who fought with similar weapons, to create a distinct western Mediterranean military koine. It also specifically examines the methods by which Carthage, Rome, and Syracuse extended their respective hegemonies and the socio-political power dynamics at work within them, which appear, like the aforementioned military equipment to have been remarkably similar. This thesis investigates the military equipment and tactics utilized by Carthaginian, Celtic, Celtiberian, Iberian, Italic, Greek, Libyphoenican, Numidian, and Sicilian troops that fought in the Carthaginian, Roman, and Syracusan armies in the century leading up to the First Punic war.
