Crotona [key], ancient city, S Italy, on the east coast of Bruttium (now Calabria), a colony of Magna Graecia founded c.708 b.c. There Pythagoras established his school, which exerted a notable political and moral influence. The nearby temple of Hera Lacinia was the religious shrine of Magna Graecia. Crotona's athletes won fame at the Olympic games. The height of the city's prosperity was reached after the army, led by the athlete Milo, destroyed the rival town of Sybaris (510 b.c.). Crotona then became involved in wars and soon declined. It was captured by the Romans in 277 b.c.; until modern times it was never more than a provincial town. It was called Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to Crotone.
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