The origins of the ancient city of Reggio merge into the mists of mythology and the meanderings of archaeology. From the late 3rd millennium BC onwards until the 8th century BC it was inhabited by peoples such as the Osci (sometimes referred to as Opici), Phoenicians, Trojans, Mycenaeans and Achæans, then by Oenotrians, Ligures, Ausones, Mamertines, Taureanes, Sicels, Morgeti and Itali. We know that the sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, and that Iokastos was King of Reggio at the beginning of the 13th century BC. The land round Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia, and later Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole Italian peninsula. In those days however, it corresponded only to present-day, southern Calabria, which later came to be known as Bruttium, while the name Italia (Italy), in fact, was first used only for the area of Reggio itself.
After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà (Ερυθρά), meaning "the Red one". This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was perhaps established by the Ausones. The last Ausonian ruler was king Italós, from whom the name of Italy is derived.
King Iokastos is buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory, called "Pallantiòn", where Greek settlers later arrived. The colony retained the earlier name of "Rhégion" (Ρήγιoν).
Under Greek rule, Reggio became a Polis of Magna Græcia and an alley of Athens; it was also first an alley and then an enemy of nearby Locri. Rhégion was governed by the Messenians, from 737 to 461 BC; by Syracuse from 387 to 351 BC, when it was known as Phœbèa and subsequently by the Campanians but between the 5th–3rd centuries BC, from time to time, it was also a republic. Reggio was one of the most important cities in Greater Greece, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BC under the Anaxilas government. Anaxilas allowed Reggio to rule over all the Messina Strait, including Zancle (modern Messina). Rhegion later allied with Athens during the Peloponnesian War until 387 BC when the city was taken by the Syracusans.
Throughout classical antiquity Rhégion remained an important maritime and commercial city as well as a cultural centre as is demonstrated by the presence of academies of art, philosophy and science, such as the Pythagorean School and also by its well-known poet, Íbykos, the historian, Ippys, the musicologist, Glaúkos and the sculptors Pythagóras and Kléarkhos.
About the time of the birth of Christ, the famous geographer and historian Strabo described Reggio as an "illustrious city". Many items of archaeological interest from this Hellenic era have been retrieved and are displayed in various places locally.
Under the Greek rule, the former Italic culture was amalgamated into the Hellenic before disappearing altogether.
As an independent city since 271 BC Regium was an important ally and "socia navalis" of Rome. During the Imperial age it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy when it was the seat of the "Corrector", the Governor of "Regio II Lucania et Bruttii" (province of Lucany and Brutium). During the Roman Empire it was elected a Municipium and named "Rhegium Julium" as a noble Roman city. It was a central pivot for both maritime and mainland traffic, reached by the final part of the Via Popilia (also known as Via Annia), which was built in the 2nd century BC and joined the older, Via Appia at Capua, south of Rome. Close to Reggio, on the Straits of Messina, was the busy port of Columna Rhegina. Rhegium boasted in imperial times, nine thermal baths, one of which is still visible today on the sea-front. During the whole Latin age Reggio maintained not only its Greek customs and language but also its Mint.
In 61 AD the apostle Saoúl (St. Paul) passed through Rhegium on his final voyage towards Rome, converting the first local Christians and, according to tradition, laying the foundations of the Christianization of Bruttium. Due to its seismic activity, the Reggio area was often damaged by earthquakes, such as in 91 BC, when it was destroyed but then was rebuilt by order of the Emperor Augustus. Other memorable shocks took place in the years 17, 305 and 374 AD.
Invasions by the Vandals, the Longobards and the Goths occurred in the 5th- 6th centuries, and then, under Byzantine rule, Reggio became, a Metropoli of the Byzantine possessions in Italy and several times between 536 and 1060 AD was also the capital of the Duchy of Calabria. Following wars between the Longobards and Byzantines in the 6th century, present-day Calabria, then known as Bruttium, was renamed Calabria.
As Reggio was a Byzantine centre of culture, certain monks undertook the work of scribes and carried out the transcription of ancient classical works. Until the 15th century Reggio was one of the most important Greek-rite Bishoprics in Italy and even today Greek words are used and are recognisable in local speech and Byzantine terms can be found in local liturgy, in religious icons and even in local recipes.
Middle Ages
Numerous occupying armies came to Reggio during the early Middle Ages due to the city's strategic importance. For hundreds of years Reggio was taken by various factions. The Saracens established a self-proclaimed sultanate on the Southern Italian coast under Mofareg-ibn-Salem which, at its peak reached, from Bari to Reggio and lasted from approximately 853–871. Following their expulsion from Italy, the Saracens occupied Reggio in 918 and sold most of it inhabitants into slavery. For brief periods in the 10th–11th centuries the city was ruled by the Arabs and, renamed Rivàh (or sometimes Rŷu), became part of the Emirate of Sicily. During the period of Arab rule various beneficial ideas were introduced into Calabria, such as Citrus fruit trees, Mulberry trees (used in silk production) and several ways of cooking local vegetables such as aubergines. The Arabs introduced water ices and ice cream and also greatly improved agricultural and hydraulic techniques for irrigation.
The city passed under the crowns of the Normans from 1060 to 1194 when it was called Risa and of the Swabians from 1194 to 1266. In 1060 the Normans, under Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily, captured Reggio but Greek cultural and religious elements persisted until the 17th century. In 1234 the town fair was established by decree of the Emperor, Frederick II.
Reggio, because of its geographical position was often contested between the Kingdom of Naples (on continental Italy) and the Kingdom of Sicily, in fact between 1266 and 1503 Reggio passed between the rule of the Aragonese, who called it Regols and who, in 1459, enlarged its medieval castle and also of the Angevins, when life in Calabria deteriorated because of the Angevin tendency to accumulate wealth in their capital, Naples, leaving Calabria in the power of local Barons.
In the 12th century Reggio became part of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1282, during the Sicilian Vespers, Reggio rallied in support of Messina and the other oriental Sicily cities because of the shared history, commercial and cultural interests. For 413 years Reggio was the capital of the Calabrian Giustizierato, from 1147-1443, and from 1465-1582. It supported the Aragonese forces against the House of Anjou. The city was ranked to Kingdom of Naples. In the 14th century it obtained new administrative powers.
Reggio, throughout the Middle Ages, when sometimes it was written as Regio, was first an important centre of calligraphy and then of printing after this was invented, boasting the first dated printed edition of a Hebrew, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475 in La Giudecca of Reggio although scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began.
The Jewish Community was also considered to be among the foremost internationally, for the dyeing and the trading of silk: silk woven in Reggio was esteemed and bought by the Spaniards, the Genoese, the Dutch, the English and the Venetians, as it was recognised as the best silk in the Kingdom of Naples.
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