Roman Republic and Empire
Even in Antiquity it was renowned for its beautiful climate. In ancient times its poets Apollodorus and Clinias, its painter Zeuxis and its mathematician Archytas were renowned.
In 122 BC a Roman colony was founded next to Taranto, according to the law proposed by Gaius Sempronius Gracchus. The colony was named Neptunia, after the Roman sea god Neptune, worshipped by the Tarentines. The Roman colony was separate from the Greek city, and populated by Roman colons, but it was later unified with the main centre when Taranto become a municipium, in 89 BC.
In 37 BC Marcus Antonius, Octavianus and Lepidus signed the Treaty of Tarentum, extending the second triumvirate until 33 BC.
Tarentum had a municipal law, Lex municipii Tarenti; a partial copy inscribed on bronze plates was discovered in 1894 by Luigi Viola, and is now at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Naples.
During the late Republic and all the Roman Empire, Taranto was a simple provincial city (Prefecture of Italy, Diocese of Italia suburbicaria, Apulia et Calabria province). Emperor Trajanus tried to counter the reduction of the population giving the Tarentine lands to his veterans, but this initiative failed. Taranto followed the story of Italy during the late Empire, with Visigoth attacks and Ostrogoth domination.
Read more about this topic: History Of Taranto
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