sybarite: [16] Sybaris was an ancient Greek colony in southern Italy. It was a flourishing trading centre, and its inhabitants put their considerable wealth to the service of unrestrained self-indulgence. Their luxurious and debauched ways became a byword in the ancient world, and Greek Subarítēs ‘inhabitant of Sybaris’ came to be synonymous with ‘pleasure-seeker’, and also with ‘lecher’ – both heterosexual and homosexual. English acquired the word via Latin Sybarīta, and has rather toned down its connotations.
sybarite (n.)
"person devoted to pleasure," 1590s, literally "inhabitant of Sybaris," ancient Greek town in southern Italy, whose people were noted for their love of luxury. From Latin Sybarita, from Greek Sybarites.
