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Sybaris

Southern Europe

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Sybaris was an important ancient Greek city on the coast of the Gulf of Taranto in what is now Calabria, Italy, founded around 720 BC by Achaean and Troezenian settlers. Built on fertile farmland with an active port, it grew extraordinarily wealthy and ruled over surrounding colonies, and its citizens became so associated with luxury that the words sybarite and sybaritic entered English from its name. The city was destroyed by its rival Kroton around 510 BC, though survivors later founded the nearby city of Thurii.

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