Locrians

thumb|251x251px|Map showing eastern Opuntian Locris|Opuntian and western [[Ozolian Locris in Central Greece.]] The Locrians (, Lokroi) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Locris in Central Greece, around Parnassus. They spoke the Locrian dialect, a Doric-Northwest dialect, and were closely related to their neighbouring tribes, the Phocians and the Dorians. They were divided into two geographically distinct tribes, the western Ozolians and the eastern Opuntians; their primary towns were Amphissa and Opus respectively, and their most important colony was the city of Epizephyrian Locris in Magna Graecia, which still bears the name "Locri" to this day. Among others, Ajax the Lesser and Patroclus were the most famous Locrian heroes, both distinguished in the Trojan War. Zaleucus from Epizephyrian Locris devised the first written Greek law code, the Locrian code.

==History and distribution== The Locrians are said to have arrived in southern Greece in the late 2nd millennium BC from their homeland on Pindus, when the Greek tribes moved southwards. In historical times, the Locrians were divided into two distinct tribes, differing from each other in customs, habits and civilization. Of these, the eastern Locrians, called the Opuntian and Epicnemedian, dwelt on the eastern coast of Greece, opposite the island of Euboea, while the western Locrians, called Ozolian or Esperian, dwelt on the Corinthian gulf and were separated from the former by Mount Parnassus and the whole of Doris and Phocis. It is likely that Locrian territory once extended from sea to sea, then was divided as a result of the immigration of the Phocians and Dorians. The most famous colony of the Locrian tribe was the city of Epizephyrian Locri, founded in the 7th century BC in Magna Graecia, which exists until today as Locri. According to Strabo the founders were the Ozolian Locrians, from the region of Amphissa.thumb|242x242px|The Castor and Pollux|Dioscuri on horseback supported by Tritons, from the sanctuary of Marasà in [[Locri, c. 450–400 BC.]]In the 6th century BC, the Locrians had a series of conflicts with the neighbouring tribes. Only the Opuntian Locrians are mentioned by Homer; they were the more ancient and the more civilized. The Ozolian Locrians, who are said to have been a colony of the former, are not mentioned in history until the time of the Peloponnesian War, and are even then represented as a semi-barbarous people. That was the last mention of the Ozolian Locrians, as they suffered the defeat from Corinth later and they stopped having a distinct identity in the 4th century BC. The Opuntian Locrians, who are mentioned to have taken part in the battle of Thermopylae between the Greeks and the Persians, were attacked by various tribes which devastated their country and only some of their towns preserved the Locrian identity in the 3rd century BC.