In the beginning of the VI century b.C. all the principal cities of Magna Graecia's Ionian coast had reached an high economical, cultural and demographical development. This is why the interest of every city was focused on the increasing of the territory under their own control.

But at that time every part of the region was under the influence of one or another city; trying to expand the control of a single city over other territories meant a declaration of war against another polis.

That's why the VI century b.C. was the stage of great clashes between Magna Graecia's colonies; battles which established the new balances and the new power relationships and that were: the battle of the Sagra River (the clash between Locri Epizephyrii and Kroton), the destruction of Siris (made by Sybaris and Metapontum), the clash between Kroton and Sybaris (which ended with the destruction of the latter).

As it happens for the other events of this age, as well for these military clashes we don't have the exact dates; regarding the destruction of Sybaris the scholars, following the historical tradition, believe that it was around the 510 b.C., while it's much difficult to point out a certain date for the other two great battles (which, probably, have to be placed around the 580-560 b.C., with the destruction of Siris preceding the battle of the Sagra).

As we have seen, the battle of the Sagra river (a still unidentified water stream; probably one of the modern Torbido, Amusa or Allaro) has to be counted amongst those territorial expansion clashes and it was fought by the armies of Locri Epizephyrii and Kroton.

We are in the first half of the VI century b.C. and the two cities, Locri and Kroton, had reached a very high economical and social development; both of them had expanded their territory: Locri over the Tyrrhenian coast and Kroton to the south, taking the control of the city of Kaulon (name which let you connect it to the modern Caulonia, placed about 25 km away to the north from the ancient Locri Epizephyrii, but in fact its ruins have been brought again to light near the modern town of Monasterace, which is 35 km away to the north from the place of the ancient Locri), last outpost of Kroton before Locri Epizephyrii's territory.

THE INFLUENCE AREAS OF THE FOUR MAJOR POLIS IN CALABRIA DURING THE VI CENTURY B.C.

So, during that age, there was a standstill situation since the two cities hadn't any chance of further expansion: Locri, once accomplished the expansion over the Tyrrhenian coast, had to stop since its expansion routes were blocked to the south by Rhegion and to the north, that's so, by Kroton; a similar condition involved Kroton, which was blocked to the north by Sybaris and to the south couldn't go past Kaulon.

With such bases and since both the two cities had a strong will of expansion, war was just a matter of time.

But now it has to be taken into account another fact: the strength of the two cities. As a matter of fact, even if both of them had a prosperous economical situation, from the demographical point of view Kroton was a metropolis compared with Locri. In fact the population of Locri Epizephyrii, even at the time of his largest expansion, didn't count more than 40.000 people and, also with the help of the city's sub-colonies (and, probably, of Rhegion, at least during that time), its army was formed by only 10-15.000 men. On the contrary Kroton, counting on a larger population (from the city itself and from the allied towns) formed an army of more than 120.000 men (probably these numbers, handed down by the tradition, are excessive compared to the ones that really were involved in the event that took place at the Sagra river, but witness doubtless the unbalanced strengths which were about to fight, with Kroton starting the battle with a really large numeric advantage).

Considered also that, during that age, the military strength of Sybaris was at least equal to the one of Kroton, it seems obvious that Kroton decided to look at Locri, willing to conquest it and sure, thanks to the large military superiority, of doing so in a very extremely easy way, planning to expand its own territory to the south, next to Rhegion's borders.

But the people of Kroton didn't think about the strength and the surviving instinct of a population, the Locrian one, which was well aware that a surrending or a defeat would have meant it's own end and that, therefore, was ready for all to reject such eventuality.

I locresi, dunque, non si fecero prendere dal panico e pianificarono al meglio la difesa. Decisero di non attendere il nemico in città, all’interno delle mura; ritennero, a ragione, che non sarebbero stati in grado di tenere a bada la schiacciante superiorità dei crotoniati che, prima o poi, sarebbero riusciti a far breccia nelle mura.

Si decise quindi per lo scontro in campo aperto, e qui i comandanti locresi compirono il loro capolavoro; scelsero, infatti, un punto lungo il fiume Sagra stretto fra il mare da una parte e le ultime pendici delle montagne dall’altra, un punto dove era impossibile dispiegare un gran numero di forze.

In quel punto si schierò l’esercito locrese in attesa del nemico crotoniate. L’esercito crotoniate arrivò in quel punto e, come previsto dai comandanti locresi, non poté dispiegarsi e quindi esprimere tutta la sua potenza e superiorità. A questo punto furono i locresi a lanciarsi all’attacco, con la rabbia ed il furore di chi sa di non avere più nulla da perdere, ed in breve riuscirono a far breccia nella parte centrale dello schieramento nemico, ferendone il comandante in capo, Leonimo, e gettando nello sconforto l’intero esercito avversario (del quale bisogna anche considerare la situazione psicologica di chi, sicuro di vincere, si trova dinanzi ad una rovinosa sconfitta) che, ormai in rotta, veniva preso alle spalle dalla cavalleria locrese.

Fu una vittoria talmente straordinaria ed inaspettata che numerosi furono i racconti e le leggende che su di essa fiorirono; tra queste va citata la Leggenda dei DIOSCURI. Vuole, infatti, la tradizione che, durante la battaglia, tra le migliaia di contendenti, si ergessero due giovani, armati diversamente dagli altri, che non davano tregua ai soldati crotoniati e che, una volta conclusasi la battaglia, sparirono nel nulla. Questi giovani vennero subito identificati con i DIOSCURI, Castore e Polluce, gemelli figli di Zeus e di Leda, moglie di Tindaro, re di Sparta e fratelli di Elena e Clitennestra.

La sconfitta di Crotone comportò, ovviamente, pesanti conseguenze sul piano del controllo del territorio. Locri, infatti, espanse il suo controllo molto più a nord di quanto non avesse mai fatto, inglobando sotto la sua influenza Kaulon e, probabilmente, Skylletion sulla costa Ionica e Terina e Temesa (anche se i dubbi al riguardo sono molti) sulla costa tirrenica; arrivando così a controllare il territorio posto tra i golfi di Squillace e di S. Eufemia. A sud, invece, almeno in questa fase, Locri aveva stretto rapporti di buon vicinato con Reggio (salvata, grazie alla vittoria locrese, da una successiva avanzata crotoniate).

La situazione era quindi florida per Locri Epizefiri che, infatti, visse in questi anni tra la metà del VI secolo e la sua fine (Crotone sconfisse Sibari intorno al 510 a.C. riacquistando l’antica forza), un periodo di grande prosperità.