Grecìa Salentina

1. GrecìaSalentina Location map of the Griko-speaking areas Grecia Salentina and Bovesia

2. GreciaSalentina(SalentinianGreece) is a Griko-speaking area in the peninsula of Salento in southern Italy, near the town of Lecce. It consists of nine towns and belongs to province of Lecce and the administrative area of Apulia (Puglia). Nine towns make part of it: Calimera, Martano, CastrignanodeiGreci, Coriglianod'Otranto, Melpignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Zollino and Martignano. (41,016 inhabitants) In addition to these, there are two more towns represented in the Union of the Towns of GrecìaSalentina (UnionedeiComunidellaGrecìaSalentina), CarpignanoSalentino and Cutrofiano, though the inhabitants of these two towns have not spoken the Greek dialect called griko in two centuries.

3. Magna Græcia(Latin meaning "Greater Greece", Greek: ΜεγάληἙλλάς, MegálēHellás) is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north[1]. The colonists, who began arriving in the eighth century BC, brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, particularly on the culture of ancient Rome.

4. History Antiquity: Main article: Greek colonies ("apoikiai") In the eighth and seventh centuries BC, for various reasons, including demographic crisis (famine, overcrowding, etc.), the search for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland, Greeks began to settle in southern Italy (Cerchiai, pp. 14–18). Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and Massalia (Marseille). They included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the heel of the boot of ItalyMagna Graecia (Latin, “Great Greece”), since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks. The ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria — Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions.

5. With this colonization, Greek culturewas exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites and its traditions of the independent polis. An original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic and Latin civilisations. The most important cultural transplant was the Chalcidean/Cumaean variety of the Greek alphabet, which was adopted by the Etruscans; the Old Italic alphabet subsequently evolved into the Latin alphabet, which became the most widely used alphabet in the world. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis (Νεάπολις, Naples), Syracuse, Acragas, Sybaris, (Σύβαρις). Other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum (Τάρας), Epizephyrian Locris (Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι), Rhegium (Ῥήγιον), Croton (Κρότων), Thurii (Θούριοι), Elea (Ἐλέα), Nola (Νῶλα), Ancona (Ἀγκών), Syessa (Σύεσσα), Bari (Βάριον) and others. Following the Pyrrhic War, Magna Graecia was absorbed into the Roman Republic.

6. Modern Italy Although most of the Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy became entirely Italianized during the Middle Ages (as Paestum had already been in the 4th century BC), pockets of Greek culture and language remained and survived into modern times. This is because the "traffic" between southern Italy and the Greek mainland never entirely stopped A remarkable example of this influence is the Griko-speaking minority which still exists today in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is the name of a language combining ancient Doric, Byzantine Greek, and Italian elements, spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region. There is a rich oral tradition and Grikofolklore, limited now, though once numerous, to around 30,000 people most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Some believe that the origins of the Griko language may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia.