MAGNA GRÆCIA, as generally used by ancient Greek authors, consisted of the Greek cities in Southern Italy that were scattered along the shores of Lucania, Brutii, and Calabria. The cities on the E. coast were built between 735 and 685 B.C. Of these, Sybaris, Crotona, and Metapontum, were founded by the Achæans; Tarentum by the Spartans; Siris by the Ionians; and Locri Epizephyrii by the Locrians. The Greek cities on the W. coast, with the exception of Rhegium, were of a later date, and, with the exception of that town and Velia, were merely offshoots of the colonies on the E. coast. Thus, Posidonia and Laurus were colonized from Sybaris, and Hipponium and Medma from Locri. At an early period the cities of Magna Græcia, as their general title implies, outvallied in power and prosperity their mother country. As they were, however, descended from distinct races, and were united by no common political interest, their greatness was more apparent than real—more temporary than permanent. They were often at war among themselves, and the rapid advancement of one city was frequently the result of the fall of another. Common danger was the only motive that could league them together. Accordingly, in 393 B.C. they entered into an alliance for mutual protection against the separate attacks of Dionysius of Syracuse and the Lucanians, but were defeated by the former at the River Helorus in 389 B.C. and by the latter near Laurus in 390 B.C. Many of the cities of Magna Græcia afterwards fell before the repeated attacks of the Lucanians and Brutians. Those that survived came under the sway of the Romans after the capture of Tarentum in 272 B.C. At the beginning of the second Punic war, however, they all revolted with the exception of Rhegium. From the severe punishment that followed this revolt they never recovered. In the time of Strabo, Rhegium, Tarentum, and Neapolis alone retained traces of their former Greek civilization.