Taras

Taras is a small Greek faction located in coastal southern Italy at the border of Lucania and Iapygia.

Its starting neighbours are Sybaris and the Lucani, Peuceti and Messapii.

In-game Description
"The Greek city-state of Taras was founded by the Parthenians (sons of unmarried Spartan women and freemen lacking citizenship) in 706 BCE after they were exiled for trying to overthrow the Spartan government. Their leader, Phalanthus, sought information on where to go from the Oracle at Delphi, who told him to found a city where rain fell from a clear sky. After attempts to found several sites failed, he took this to mean founding a city would be impossible, until he told his wife Aethra his problems while resting his head on her lap. As her tears hit his head, it occurred to him that his wife's name meant "clear sky", and so he conquered the nearby harbour.""

Starting Cities

 * Taras:
 * Metapontum:
 * Polieum:

Strategy
Your Greek brigade roster is superior to that of your non-Greek neighbours in the early game, since unlike you they don't have immediate access to hoplites and would need to first grow their cities and construct a barracks upgrade. This gives you a significant edge against the nearby Lucani, Peuceti and Messapii in the early game.

The nearby Messapii are perhaps the most viable target in the early game, thanks to their isolated territory which can be easily defended when taken.

To compensate for only starting with a few native cities, it might be a good idea to use the economic skill tree to boost population growth and unlock the Colonization skill as early possible.

Trivia & History

 * As referenced in the in-game description, Taras was said to be founded by Spartan exiles under Phalanthus in the 700s BC. The city was named after Taras, a son of the Greek sea god Poseidon. In a variation of the city's foundation myth, it was Taras himself who founded the city. Whatever the case, Taras eventually grew to become the largest and most important Greek colony in mainland Italy and one of the largest Greek cities in the entire Mediterranean.
 * Taras was locked in a military struggle against the Lucani, Peuceti and Messapii in the early 5th Century BC. They allied with Rhegion to reverse their fortunes, but their joint invasion of Iapygia was defeated by the Peuceti and Messapii in what was apparently one of the costliest defeats in Greek military history. Their power continued to increase nonetheless, and they sided with Sparta during the Peloponnesian War in the late 5th Century BC.
 * Taras reached the zenith of its power around 350 BC, during the rule of the mathematician Archytas, but declined quickly afterwards. They were forced to appeal for Spartan and Epirote intervention against the Bruttii, Lucani and Iapygians in the late 4th Century BC, with mixed success.
 * They once again appealed Epirus for assistance in the 280s BC against the rapid Roman expansion across southern Italy in the aftermath of the Samnite Wars, leading to the Pyrrhic War in which the Romans eventually repulsed the Epirote invasion force. The Romans conquered Taras shortly afterwards.
 * Taras didn't historically control the cities of Metapontum and Polieum, which were originally Achaean and Ionian colonies respectively, and were therefore not aligned with each other or with the Spartan Tarantines (Taras did eventually gain control over the area of Polieum in the 430s BC, however, when they founded the new colony of Heraclea near the remnants of that city). Presumably these cities were merged into a single faction to buff Taras and simplify the faction roster.
 * Taras was well known for having a prominent force of javelin-armed light cavalry, which are likely the basis for the Greek Mounted Javelineers in-game and the reason for Taras' boost to missile damage and speed. This style of cavalry became known as 'Tarantine Cavalry' and was eventually adopted under that name across much of the Greek world.
 * The faction's icon depicts a winged hippocampus, with the design being taken from ancient Tarantine coinage.