TARANTO, an erchlepiscopal town in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in the province of Terra d'Otranto, is situated in 40° 28' N. lat., 17° 35' E. long., and ,contains 15,000 inhabitants. It occupies a small part of the site of the ancient Tarentum, being confined to the island or peninsula at the entrauce of tire inner harbour, or Mare Piccolo, on which formerly stood the fortress or acropolis of Tarentum. There are few remains of the ancient town. Taranto is Ill built : it is fortified and hen a castle, and several churches and convents.
It carries on some trade by sea in small craft, and has some manu factures of linen and of gloves and other articles from pinna marina.' A part of the population is employed in fishing. Excellent oysters are found on the coast. The inner port is nearly filled up, but the outer or large port is accessible to vessels of good size, and is pro tected by two islands which are situated at the mouth. The large gulf which lies between the coast of Calabria and the lapygian peninsula is called the Gulf of Taranto. Two ahore lakes, one of them of considerable extent, which lie southeast of the town, yield a great quantity of salt by evaporation.
Ancient Tarentum, the principal Creek city on the east coast of Italy, is said to have been originally a town of the Messapians, which Phalantns and the Parthenias took about B.C. 694. Tarentum, after many struggles with neighbouring cities and peoples, gained great prosperity by commerce, and acqnired a considerable extent of territory. Archytas, a native of Tarentum, is said to have compiled a body of laws for the Tarentinee.
About n.o. 338 the Turentinee, being engaged in war with their neighbours the Lucanians, applied to Sparta for assistance. Archi damns, the son of Agesilaus, was sent to them, and he was killed in fighting on their side. Some years after, being hard pressed by the Lucanians and Bruttii, the Tarentines applied to Alexander, king of Epirus, and uncle to Alexander the Great. He came to Italy with troops, obtained considerable advantages, but was at last surprised and killed by the Brnttii near Pandosia, n.c. 323. (Justin, xii. 2; Livy, viii. 21.) The Tarentines had by this time degenerated. (Minn, Var. Hist,' ill. 30.) In the year B.O. 2S2 the Romans, after having conquered tho Sam mites, made war upon the Lucanians. The Tarentines, jealous of the encroachments of Rome, unexpectedly attacked the Roman fleet, which was sailing near their coast, and killed a great many of the crew. The Romans sent commissioners to demand reparation for the
outrage, but the Tarentinee treated them with insult. Aroused how ever to a sense of their danger, they applied to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, for assistance, and sent vessels to convey him over with his troops, s.c. 231. Pyrrhus soon found that the Tarentines were too effeminate to give him much support. Chiefly with his own troops ho carried on the war against Rome for several years, but was at last defeated by the consul M. Carlin, Dentatna, and obliged to re-embark for Epirus, leaving however a garrison in Tarentum, B.C. 275. The Tarentines having shortly after quarrelled with the Epirote garrison, applied to the Carthaginians for assistance to drive away the Epirotes. The Romans having had notice of thin, sent the consul L. Papirius Cursor, who took Tarentum, and allowed the Epirote garrison to return home. Tarentum was thenceforward styled an ally of Rome till after the battle of Canute, when the Tarentines entered Into some intrigues with Hannibal.
In the year B.C. 212 the hostages of the Tarentines ran away from Rome, but being pursued and overtaken near Terracina, they were brought back, and after being beaten with rods were thrown down the Tarpeinn rock. This cruel punishment Irritated the people of Tarentum ; an agreement was made with Hannibal, and his troops were admitted into the city by night. The Roman garrison stationed in the citadel was besieged by sea and by land. In B.C. 209 the consul Q. Fabius Maximus retook Tarentum by surprise, and his soldiers plundered the city.
From that time Tarentum remained in subjection to Rome, and although It greatly declined in wealth and importance, It was still a considerable place in the time of Augustus. It was one of the chief strongholds of the Byzantine emperors in Southern Italy. About A.D. 774 Romauldus, the Longobard duke of Beneventum, took Tarentum from the Byzantinea. The Saracens landed at Tarentum about A.D. 830. The town was afterwards several times taken and retaken and sacked, and it was during this period that the old town on the mainland was abandoned, and the inhabitants) retired to the island. In the 11th century it was taken by tho Normans, and Robert Gniacard made his son Bohemund prince of Tarentum.