Description : Pithecusa , or Pitecussa (in greek Πιθηκοῦσσαι, Pithekoussai , or Pithecusae ; literally "of the monkeys, populated by monkeys"), on the current island of Ischia , is considered the oldest greek appropriation in Italy , the foundation of which is traced to the first mid- eighth century BC (770 BC), by the Greeks of Eretria and Chalcis (on Euboea ). With good verisimilitude it was not a Greek colony in the strict sense, but a mercantile community with a Greek prevalence (of at least two different metropolises, Eretria and Euboea, but further origins are also possible), in which, however, numerous Etruscan and Phoenician colonists also coexisted. (and perhaps also Punic), born as a multiethnic emporium, which also aimed to become a colony with a predominantly Hellenic population.
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