LUCANIA, a district of southern Italy, extending from the Tyrrhenian sea to the Gulf of Tarentum. To the north it adjoined Campania, Samnium and Apulia, and to the south it was separated by a narrow isthmus from the district of Bruttii. It thus com prised almost all the modern region of the Basilicata, with the greater part of the province of Salerno and a part of Cosenza.
Almost the whole is occupied by the Apennines. Just within the frontier of Lucania rises Monte Pollino, 7,325 ft., the highest peak in the southern Apennines. The mountains descend by a much more gradual slope to the coastal plain of the Gulf of Tarentum. Of the rivers on this side the most important are— the Bradanus (Bradano), the Casuentus (Basento), the Aciris (Agri), and the Siris (Sinno). The Crathis, which forms at its mouth the southern limit of the province, belongs almost wholly to the territory of the Bruttii, but it receives a tributary, the Sybaris (Coscile), from the mountains of Lucania. The only considerable stream on the western side is the Silarus (Sele), which constitutes the northern boundary, and has two important tributaries in the Calor (Galore) and the Tanager (Negro).
Lucania was so called from the Lucani (Lucanians) who con quered it about the middle of the 5th century B.C. Before that it was included under the general name of Oenotria, applied by the Greeks to southernmost Italy. The mountainous interior was occupied by Oenotrians and Chones, while on the coasts on both sides were powerful Greek colonies which doubtless exercised a protectorate over the interior (see MAGNA GRAECIA). The Lucan ians were a southern branch of the Samnite or Sabelline race, who spoke Oscan (q.v.). A few Oscan inscriptions have survived, mostly in Greek characters, from the 4th or 3rd century B.C., and some coins with Oscan legends of the 3rd century. After much inter-tribal conflict we find them fighting the Tarentines and Alexander, king of Epirus, who was called in by that people to their assistance, 326 B.C. In 298 B.C. they made alliance with Rome, and Roman influence was extended by the colonies of Venusia (291 B.c.), Paestum (273), and above all Tarentum (272). On the landing of Pyrrhus in Italy (281 B.c.) they were among the first to declare in his favour, and found themselves exposed to the resentment of Rome when the departure of Pyrrhus left his allies at the mercy of the Romans. After sev eral campaigns they were reduced to subjection (272 B.C.). They sided with Hannibal during the Second Punic War (216 B.c.), and their territory during several campaigns was ravaged by both armies. The country never recovered from these disasters, and under the Roman government fell into decay, to which the Social War, in which the Lucanians took part with the Samnites against Rome (9o-88 B•c.) gave the finishing stroke. An interesting hill fortress, founded probably in the earliest period of the history of the country (the late Iron Age) then perhaps occupied by the Greeks of the coast and destroyed and refortified by the Lucanians in the 5th century B.C., is described by T. Ashby and R. Gardner in Journal of Roman Studies, ix. ( 1919) , 211-215.
For administrative purposes under the Roman empire, Lucania was always united with the district of the Bruttii. The two to gether constituted the third region of Augustus.
The towns on the east coast were—Metapontum, a few miles south of the Bradanus; Heraclea, at the mouth of the Aciris; and Siris, on the river of the same name. Close to its southern frontier stood Sybaris, destroyed in sio B.c., but subsequently replaced by Thurii. On the west coast stood Posidonia, known under the Romans as Paestum ; below came Elea or Velia, Pyxus, called by the Romans Buxentum, and Laus, near the frontier of the province towards Bruttium. Of the towns of the interior the most consid erable was Potentia, still called Potenza. To the north, near the frontier of Apulia, was Bantia (Aceruntia belonged more properly to Apulia) ; while due south from Potentia was Grumentum, and still farther in that direction were Nerulum and Muranum. In the upland valley of the Tanagrus were Atina, Forum Popilii and Con silinum ; Eburi (Eboli) and Volceii (Buccino), though to the north of the Silarus, were also included in Lucania. The Via Popillia traversed the district from north to south, entering it at the north-west extremity; the Via Herculia, coming southwards from the Via Appia and passing through Potentia and Grumen tum, joined the Via Popillia near the south-west of the district : while another nameless road followed the east coast and other roads of less importance ran west from Potentia to the Via Popillia, north-east to the Via Appia and east from Grumentum to the coast at Heraclea. (T. A.) LUCARIS, CYRILLOS (1572-1637), Greek prelate and theologian, was a native of Crete. In youth he travelled, studying at Venice and Padua, and at Geneva coming under the influence of the reformed faith as represented by Calvin. In 1602 he was elected patriarch of Alexandria, and in 1621 patriarch of Con stantinople. He was the first great name in the Orthodox Eastern Church since and dominates its history in the 17th century. The great aim of his life was to reform the church on Calvinistic lines, and to this end he sent many young Greek theologians to the universities of Switzerland, Holland and England. In 1629 he published his famous Confessio, Calvinistic in doctrine, but as far as possible accommodated to the language and creeds of the Orthodox Church. It appeared the same year in two Latin editions, four French, one German and one English, and in the Eastern Church started a controversy which culminated in 1691 in the convocation by Dositheos, patriarch of Jerusalem, of a synod by which the Calvinistic doctrines were condemned. Lucaris was several times temporarily deposed and banished at the instigation of his orthodox opponents and of the Jesuits, who were his bitterest enemies. Finally, when Sultan Murad was about to set out for the Persian War, the patriarch was accused of a design to stir up the Cossacks, and to avoid trouble during his absence the sultan had him killed by the Janissaries (June 1637).
See the article "Lukaris" by Ph. Meyer in Herzog-Hauck, Real encyklop. (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1902), which gives further authorities.