Corcyra is an island in the Ionian Sea, on the coast of Epirus: it is
now called Corfu; was first peopled by a colony from Colchis, B.C.
1349, and afterwards by a colony from Corinth, who, with Chersicrates at
their head, came to settle there, on being banished from their native
city 703 years before the Christian era. Homer calls it Phæacia;
Callimachus, Drepane.
Ancient authors give glorious descriptions of the beautiful gardens of
this island belonging to Alcinous; but, at present, no remains of them
are to be found. It was famous for the shipwreck of Ulysses.
The air is healthy, the land fertile, the fruit excellent. Oranges,
citrons, honey, wax, oil, and most delicious grapes, are very abundant.
The war between this people and that of Athens was called the Corcyrean;
and operated as an introduction to the Peloponnesian war. Corcyra was
then an independent power, which could send out fleets and armies; and
its alliance was courted by many other states.
Thucydides gives a frightful account of a sedition which occurred in
this city and island during the Peloponnesian war: some were condemned
to die under judicial sentences; some slew one another in the temples;
some hung themselves upon the trees within its verge; some perished
through private enmity; some for the sums they had lent, by the hands of
the borrowers. Every kind of death was exhibited. Every dreadful act,
usual in a sedition, and more than usual, was then perpetrated. For
fathers slew their children; some were dragged from altars; and some
were butchered at them; and a number died of starvation in one of the
temples.
Corcyra, when in the possession of the Romans, became a valuable station
for their ships of war, in their hostilities against the cities of Asia.
Septimius Severus and his family appear to have been great benefactors
to it; for, about 150 years ago, there was found a number of medals, not
only of Septimius, but of his wife Julia Domna; Caracalla, his eldest
son, and his wife Plankilla; also of Geta, his youngest son.
Two hundred years ago, Corfu consisted of nothing but one old castle and
a village. It is now a considerable town. It stands projecting on a rock
into the sea; and, from the fortifications guarding it, is a place of
strength. The fortresses are completely mined below; and the roads to
the gates of some of them are narrow and precipitous. By an accidental
explosion of a powder-mill, one of the fortresses, in the early part of
the last century, 2000 people were killed and wounded; and by a singular
catastrophe, in 1789, 600 individuals lost their lives; ten galleys and
several boats were sunk in the harbour; and many houses in the town
greatly damaged.
Wheler visited the ruins of Paloeopoli, the ancient metropolis of the
island. "It stood," says he, "on a promontory to the south of the
present city, separated from it by a little bay, of about a mile or two
over. The abundance of ruins and fortifications, which are to be seen
there, do sufficiently prove it to have been so." Abundance of
foundations, he goes on to observe, have been dug up there; and of
arches and pillars, many of which have been employed to build the
foundations of the present city.
There are also the remains of an old place of worship; the architecture
of which is sustained by Corinthian columns of white marble, with an
inscription, showing that it was built by the Emperor Jovian, after he
was converted to the Christian faith and had destroyed the heathen
temples.
"_I Jovian, having received the faith, established the kingdom of my
power; and having destroyed the heathen temples and altars, have built
to thee, O thou blessed and most high King, a holy temple, the gift of
an unworthy hand._"
Mr. Dodwell visited this place some years ago, and he says that nothing
is now seen above ground of the remains of the ancient city, except some
frusta of large columns, which from having flutings without intervals,
were evidently of the Doric order. They have a large square, which forms
but one mass with a column, which is a singularity, it is said, of which
there is no other example.
Corcyra was celebrated, as we have before stated, for having been the
island on which Ulysses is represented in the Odyssey as having been
entertained by Alcinous, king of Phæacia. It is also the place where
Cicero and Cato met after the battle of Pharsalia; and where Cato, after
having intrusted Cicero to take the command of the last legions which
remained faithful to the republic, separated from him to lose his life
at Utica, while Cicero went to lose his head to the triumvirate. To this
place Aristotle was once exiled; and it is well known as having been
visited by the youthful Alexander; as the place where the tragical
nuptials of Antony and Cleopatra were celebrated; and as that where
Agrippina touched, bringing from Egypt the body of the murdered
Germanicus in the midst of winter[197].