Rhegium

Rhegium (rē`jēəm), ancient city, S Italy, on the Strait of Messina. It is the modern Reggio di Calabria. Founded (c.720 B.C.) as a colony of Chalcis, many Messenians later settled there. It was powerful until its defeat and destruction (386 B.C.) by Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse. The Romans, who favored it, called the city Rhegium Julium. It is mentioned in Acts 28.13. The name is also spelled Regium.

---

Reggio di Calabria

 ancient Rhegium

City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 179,384), capital of Reggio di Calabria province and former capital (until 1971) of Calabria region, southern Italy. A Greek colony founded on the Strait of Messina at the end of the 8th century BC, it was allied with Athens in the 5th century BC and with Rome c. 280 BC. From the 5th century AD it was ruled successively by the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, and Arabs. It was conquered by the Normans under Robert Guiscard c. 1060 and became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Destroyed many times by Muslim invaders and by earthquakes, it has repeatedly been rebuilt. It is a tourist resort and seaport that exports dried herbs and essential oils for the perfume and pharmaceutical industries.