Locris

Locris, also Locri, was a historic region of ancient Greece located along the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth. It was inhabited by the Locrians, a Greek-speaking people considered a distinct ethnos within the Hellenic world. In classical geography the area was divided into two districts, Ozolian Locris in the west and Opuntian Locris in the east. The two districts shared cultural ties but did not form a single political state, and they bordered Phocis and Boeotia to the north, Aetolia to the west, and the Corinthian Gulf to the south.

Society and history in Locris were characterized by the presence of multiple city-states within the region and by customary religious practices and cults typical of central Greece. The Locrians participated in broader Greek affairs through alliances, conflicts, and diplomacy with neighboring polities such as Phocis, Boeotia, and Aetolia, and they contributed to the cultural and linguistic landscape of ancient Greece through their dialect and institutions.

Colonial legacy from Locris extended beyond the Greek mainland when Locrian colonists founded Locri Epizephyli (Epizephyrian Locri) in Magna Graecia, in what is now Calabria, Italy. This colony reflects the broader pattern of Greek colonization associated with mainland regions like Locris.

Today, Locris survives mainly as a historical and geographical term in classical literature and modern regional geography. It remains a reference point for the study of central Greece in antiquity, and its legacy persists in related toponyms and historical scholarship.