Sybarite is defined as a person devoted to luxury and sensuality. The word goes back to the ancient Greek city of Sybaris which was located in Calabria in southern Italy. Calabria is a good location for its origin since it is an area famous for its sun, sea, various culinary delights – and for enjoying itself! The city of Sybaris was part of the Greek colonisation which started in approximately BC 800 and this left a cultural footprint on Italy which was absorbed by the Roman Empire.
As a port town with fertile land, Sybaris became very rich. In classical literature there are many references to the refined luxury of the Sybarites which include sleeping on rose petals to avoid blisters; banning professions which created noise (chicken-raising, carpentry or blacksmiths) to the edge of the city to reduce noise; and covering streets for protection against the sun.
Travellers Breviat (1603) gives a description in English of the Sybarites which offered an insight into their society: “The pleasure of Tarent and the soile of the Siberites were inchantments sufficient to make men effeminate”.
The first mention of the Sybarites in English was by Joseph Hall in his book of poetry and satire, Virgidemiarum. Interestingly, he was one of the earliest English satirists, but his life took a turn for the more serious as he eventually became a bishop, moralist and devotional writer – the stuff of nightmares for any Sybarite.
