Thurii

or Thurium . A Greek city in the south of Italy, on the north shore of the Tarentine Gulf, was founded in 452 B.C. , by a body of Sybarite exiles, near the spot where their ancient city had stood till it was destroyed by the Croton i ans fifty-eight years before. The rise of a new colony re-awakened the anger of the Croton i ans, and after five years they expelled the Sybarites. These after an unsucce ful appeal to Sparta for a istance, applied to the A then i ans, who resolved to send out a colony along with the persecuted Sybarites. The leaders of this colony were Lampon and Xenocritus. A war subsequently occurred between Thurii and Tarentum, but was terminated by a compromise. In 390 B.C. the city received a severe blow from a total defeat of their army by the Lucanians. From this period it began to decline, and was at length obliged to submit to the Roman power, in order to escape the continued attacks of the Lucanians.