favor, and found themselves exposed to the resentment of Rome when the departure of Pyrrhus left his allies at the mercy of the Romans. After several campaigns they were reduced to subjection (272 BC). Notwithstanding this they espoused the cause of Hannibal during the Second Punic War (216 BC), and their territory during several campaigns was ravaged by both armies. The country never recovered from these disasters, and under the Roman government fell into decay, to which the Social War, in which the Lucanians took part with the Samnites against Rome (90–88 BC) gave the finishing stroke. In the time of Strabo the Greek cities on the coast had fallen into insignificance, and owing to the decrease of population and cultivation malaria began to obtain the upper hand. The few towns of the interior were of no importance. A large part of the province was given up to pasture, and the mountains were covered with forests, which abounded in wild boars, bears and wolves. There were some fifteen independent communities, but none of great importance. For administrative purposes under the Roman empire, Lucania was always united with the district of the Bruttii, a practice continued by Theodoric. The two together constituted the third region of Augustus. Middle Ages After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Lucania fell to Odoacer and became part of the Kingdom of Italy before being turned into the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in 493 CE. Ostrogothic rule in the region was short lived however because due to Justinian’s reconquest of Italy in the mid-Sixth century. The Byzantine conquest reintroduced Greeks and Greek culture to the region. In the early 7th, Byzantine rule was cut short as another Germanic people, the Lombards conquered Lucania from the Byzantines and became part of the Kingdom of the Lombards. In 774, after the Frankish invasion, Lucania became a part of the independent Duchy of Benevento and later, under Holy Roman Emperor Louis II, part of the Duchy was turned into the independent Principality of Salerno in 851. In the late 10th century the Byzantines began to re-enter the region of Lucania forming the Catapanate of Italy with Salerno being granted autonomy. By the early 11th century the Byzantine revival in Lucania came with both a process of Hellenization and significant Greek migrations from southern and central Calabria and Salento, into regions such as Cilento. Lucania would