The relations between Achaea and South Italy during the Late Helladic and Early Historical periods. Evaluation of our knowledge

The theory that the relations between Achaea and Italy had begun during the Late Mycenaean IIIB-C Periods was overturned by recent studies, which have transferred the beginning of these relations in the LH III A Period. Not only Italian products, mainly bronze weapons and ceramic were imported to Achaea but also Achaean products, mainly Mycenaean ceramic, was exported to Italy. Achaea played a pivotal role in the relations between Greece and Italy, because, being located at the exit of Corinthian Gulf and constituting the northern endmost of western Peloponnese, offered the final anchorage to the ships from Corinthia and the Argolid, but also from Cyprus, Crete and the Aegean Sea, before sailing to the Ionian and Adriatic Seas and the first gate for the Italian imports to Greece. These relations continued during the Geometric Period, when some important Achaean colonies were found in South Italy, as e.g. Sybaris, Croton, Caulonia, Metapontum and Paestum. The trade between the two regions was flourishing even in the Hellenistic Period and the relations became more substantive during the Roman Period, when two Roman Colonies were found in Patras and in Dyme.