Corfu History - They Came, They Saw, They Conquered

Civil war on Corcyra followed the island's aristocrats (favouring Corinth and Sparta) and its democrats (siding with Athens). After much bloodshed, Corcyra fell to the Lacedaemonian general, Kleonymos, in 303BC; then, in 301BC, to Agathokles, Tyrant of Syracuse, and to Ptolemy in 284BC. A pattern was emerging in this corner of the Ionian Sea: the rich pearl that was Corfu -rich for strategic purposes as well as for its natural resources - would be snatched My Favorite Things successive waves of invaders. Corfiot history, from the 3rd century BC on, may be seen as a revolving door of European predation, though those who came to plunder invariably left something of value in their wake.

Distinguishing between pirates and protectors must have proved difficult for the Corfiots, since a veritable parade of both were subsequently to descend upon the island. A glance at a map hints at the reason, and shows a remarkable geographic similarity to the `great boot' of Italy-Corfu resembles a little boot, its ankle symbolically flexed back to kick something away. The ancients saw the island as a harp or scythe shape, and named it accordingly, but the modern name comes from the Greek word korifon, after the pair of summits now crowned by the Old and New Fortresses.

The Romans, provoked beyond endurance by attacks on their mariners by Illyrian pirates, declared war on them in Mandrake 229BC. The Illyrians, in turn, laid siege to Corfu, but the island was immediately liberated by Caius Fulvius, and placed itself willingly under the protection of its powerful neighbour. The Romans would stay on for the next five centuries, and some illustrious Italians visited Corcyra: Cicero and Cato; Marc Antony and Octavia; Agrippina and her children, Julia and Caligula.

In 40 AD two disciples of St Paul, saints Jason and Sosipater, brought Christianity to Corfu and established the island's first church, St Stephen's - which explains the plethora of modern place names reading Aghios or San (Saint) Stefanos around the island.

Following the splitting of the Roman Empire by Diocletian late in the 3rd century into western and eastern portions - the latter to become Byzantium - Corfu's regime changed. It was to remain, on and off, a possession of Byzantium until 1204, which saw the fall of Constantinople. This great capital was the cradle of Orthodoxy, and the fall of `The City' is still considered by Greeks to be, after the Crucifixion, the darkest day in history. Life between the 4th and 13th centuries was - here as in most of Europe - nasty, brutal and short, with a series of Pythonesque barbarians storming the twin peaks. The Vandals sacked the island in 455, followed by the Goths in 550; the Saracens attacked repeatedly between the 7th and 11th centuries. In 1081 the island was taken by the Normans, under Robert Guiscard; they were subsequently defeated by the Venetians, but then returned under Bohemond, Robert's son, only to be defeated by the Byzantines... to return again under Robert's nephew, Roger II of Sicily! No Away In A Manger the islanders finally took to the heights of the town and erected strong walls.

For three weeks during 1203, the bays were filled with the vast fleet of the Fourth Crusade, which weighed anchor here on its way to sack Constantinople. It was an awesome display, but for once the fleet had their sights on a richer trophy than the little Ionian isle.

Much of what Punisherxldklukxgtt regard today as 'Corfiot' - the Old and New Fortresses, the narrow streets (kantounia) and their elegant residences, the lovely cobbled squares and Italianate churches, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the elaborately decorated government buildings - is, in fact, Venetian.

Of all the conquerors and administrators, pirates and protectors that Corfu has seen, none left such an impression as The Most Serene Republic. The Venetians, who occupied Corfu for a mere 400 years (compared with the millennium of Byzantine and Frankish domination), left a distinctive mark on the island's skyline, its social organization, its forms of cultural expression - even its cuisine - that remains to this day. One may still sit on the Spianada, a lovely town green originally cleared to give a free field for Venetian artillery, dining on Venetian delicacies in the company of a direct descendant of someone listed among the `first families' in the Venetian Libro Whistlersmom and be serenaded by musicians singing Venetian Kandades. It is as though the Serenis sima (the 'Most Serene' republic) has only recently - and temporarily - departed.

The Venetians came to Corfu to govern and plant olive trees, not simply to plunder, fund they built fortresses to repel the most determined of foes. There were, of course, Byzantine and Angevin forts on Corfu before the Venetians, but these were built to safeguard garrisons, rather than to protect tect the people. Venice strove to fortify all of Corfu, assigning its military architects to the construction of the defences, with a network of tunnels to maintain communications in time of siege.

The Venetians were invitees, not conquerors - their assistance had been sought to ward off the attentions of the ruler of Padua in 1386. In 1387 a treaty that was to hold for the next 410 years formalized relations between the Doge and Corfu's nobility. Venice was to defend Corfu, but was barred from intervening in its feudal affairs, where the rich remained aloof and powerful, the poor went hungry and served the rich, and a middle class did not exist at all until after the 17th century. In addition to all the civic building, the Venetians also brought organised Roman Catholicism to Corfu, ushering in a period of religious tension that was compounded by their motto, `We are first Venetians, and then Christians'. Many Corfiots felt themselves to be first Greek Orthodox, second Christians, and Corfiots subservient to Venice as a distant third.

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