Rhegion was a Greek city-state in Magna Graecia, now known as Reggio Calabria, a city in Calabria, southern Italy. Rhegion was founded by colonists from Chalcis in 743 BC, and it became an ally of Athens. It was governed by the Messenians from 737 to 461 BC, by Syracuse from 387 to 351 BC, and by the Campanians from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, but it also functioned as an independent republic. The city's Italic culture was assimilated to the Greek culture, but it became a Roman vassal in 271 BC and was soon incorporated into the Roman Republic.