After Cumae, Rhegium, or Rhegion, present Reggio di Calabria, is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy.

The colony os settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BCE on the site of an older settlement, Erythrà, meaning "the Red one", which dates to the 3rd millennium BC and was perhaps established by the Ausones.

The last Ausonian ruler was king Italus, from whom the name of Italy is derived: the land round Reggio was at first known as Saturnia and then Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole peninsula, but in those days corresponded only to present-day southern Calabria, which was also known later as Bruzium.

Under Greek rule, Rhegium becomes a polis of Magna Græcia.

It was governed by the Messenians from 737 to 461 BCE; by Syracuse from 387 to 351 BCE, when it is known as Febea, then by the Campanians, although for a time in the 5th–3rd centuries BCE it is also a republic.

Rhegium is one of the most important cities in Magna Graecia, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BCE under the government of Anaxilas, who allows Reggio to rule over all the Messina Strait, including Zankle (modern Messina).

Rhegion later allies with Athens during the Peloponnesian War until 387 BCE, when the city is taken by the Syracusans.

Later, the polis of Rhegion reaches great artistic and cultural heights, as is shown by the presence of art, philosophy and science academies, such as the Pythagorean School and also for its well-known poets, historians and sculptors such Ibycus, Ippy and Pythagoras of Rhegium.

Many items of archaeological interest from this Hellenic era have been retrieved and are displayed in various places locally.

As an independent city, Rhegium is an important ally and "socia navalis" of Rome.

During the Imperial age it becomes one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy when it is the seat of the "Corrector", the Governor of "Regio II Lucania et Bruttii" (province of Lucany and Brutium).