Little is known about its foundation or history. Herodotus states that the inhabitants of Sybaris who had survived the destruction of their city in 510 BCE took refuge in Laüs and Scidrus. Diodorus Siculus seems to imply that that city had been captured by the Lucanians before or during 390 BCE. He writes that the army of Thurii had repelled a force of the Lucanians which had attacked their territory in 390 BCE. The Lucanians then withdrew to their own territory and Thurians pursued them to lay siege to the "prosperous" town of Laüs. On the way to Laüs the Thurians were ambushed and crushed by the Lucanians.