Heraklea (in Greek Ἡράκλεια, Herakleia; in Latin Heraclea or Heracleia) was an ancient city of the Magna Grecia Lucana, located near the current Policoro, province of Matera.
It was founded by the colonists Tarantini and Thurioti around 434 BC, after a war that had seen them as enemies. The city is located on a hill between the Agri and Sinni rivers on the remains of the city of Siris, and in 374 BC. it was chosen as the capital of the Italiota League in place of Thurii which had fallen into the hands of the Lucani. Subsequently, an urban agglomeration will be created on the coast with the name of Siris, which, however, with the ancient Siris has only onomastic but not topographical continuity.
In 280 BC the city was the scene of the battle of Heraklea between Taranto and Rome. Always around 280 BC. the Romans proposed a special alliance treaty to the city of Heraclea, succeeding in removing it from the influence of Taranto and making it a confederate city of Rome. The tables of Heraklea also date back to this period, currently preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, which are bronze tables with Greek texts concerning the public and constitutional order of the city. On the back of these the lex Iulia Municipalis is transcribed in Latin. At the end of the war between the Romans and Tarantins, Heraklea, like all Lucania and Puglia, fell under Roman rule.
In 212 BC the city was besieged and conquered by Annibale. Later it became a flourishing city again, and its inhabitants were described as Nobiles Homines by Cicero in Pro Archia, the apology of the poet Aulo Licinio Archia, citizen of Heraklea.
In 89 BC Roman citizenship was given to the Heraclides with the lex Plautia Papiria. Throughout the Republican age, Heraklea was troubled by social unrest, which reached its climax in 72 BC. with the passage of Spartacus. The population then took refuge in the upper part of the city. During the imperial age, however, its decline began. The poet Archia and the great painter Zeusi resided here, perhaps from the city.
The ruins can currently be visited together with the National Museum of the Siritide of Policoro which houses most of the finds found there. Of the ancient city in the lower part you can see the Temple of Athena, of which the foundations remain, and the Temple of Demeter. On the acropolis, however, the remains of the city have been better preserved and the urban layout consisting of orthogonal road axes is visible. To the west is the ceramist quarter with houses with attached kilns. To the south and west are the necropolises.