The Battle of the Sagra was fought in the 6th century BC between the Greek cities of Locri Epizefiri and Crotone. The battle took place along the Sagra River (which cannot be precisely identified, but may be the present-day River Torbido[1]) and the River Allaro, in the Province of Reggio Calabria[2][3], southern Italy.
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Historians date the battle to sometime between 560 BC and 535 BC. Crotone opened hostilities and had the superior miitary force. Their Locrian opponents thus decided not to meet the enemy in open battle, but instead to wait at the ford of the River Sagra. Rhegion allied with Locri and sent a contingent to prevent the annexation by Crotone of Locrian territory, which bordered on that of Rhegion. The Locrian colonies of Hipponion and Medma also offered aid. Locri requested help from Sparta, but the Spartans replied that they should seek help from the Dioscuri, who according to legend had once fought at the Locrians' side and helped them defeat Croton.
The ancient sources write of 10,000 to 15,000 men in total, whilst some of them even hyperbolically write of 130,000 Croton troops in the battle. According to legend the river's waters were stained red with the blood of the dead. Historically, the Locrian cavalry first blocked the Crotonese army and then routed it. Much of the data we now have on the battle is from a shield found at Delphi, inscribed by (among others) "the citizens of Hipponion and Medma and Locri dedicated [this] as booty from the Crotonese". It is reported news of the battle reached the Peloponnese in a single day.[4]
The battle resulted in a profound internal crisis in Crotone, under an austere Pythagorean regime, which turned its eyes towards neighbouring Sybaris, destroyed by Crotone's troops in 510 BC. For Locri it was instead the start of a more and more aggressive policy towards neighbouring cities, subsequently leading to a rupture in its alliance with Rhegion.