Korkyra (polis)
Κόρκυρα | |
 Gorgon at the Archaeological Museum in Corfu | |
  Shown within Greece | |
| Location | Corfu, Greece |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°36′26″N 19°55′06″E / 39.60722°N 19.91833°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Cultures | Ancient Greece |
Korkyra (also Corcyra; Greek: Κόρκυρα, Kórkyra) was an ancient Greek city on the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea that is adjacent to Epirus.[1] It was a colony of Corinth that was founded in the Archaic period. Korkyra was acting as a port of call on the sailing routes, especially to reach the Italian coast or ventured farther north. According to Thucydides, the earliest recorded naval battle took place between Korkyra and Corinth, roughly 260 years before he was writing,[2] and thus in the mid-7th century BC. He also writes that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers in 5th-century BC Greece, along with Athens and Corinth.[3]
The antagonism between Korkyra and its mother city, Corinth, appears to have been an old one. Quite apart from the naval battle that Thucydides mentions, Herodotus records a myth involving the tyrant of Corinth, Periander. Periander was estranged from his younger son, Lycophron, who believed that his father had killed his mother, Milissa. After failing to reconcile with Lycophron, he sent him to Korkyra, which was within Corinth's governance. In his old age, Periander sent for his son to come and rule over Corinthn and suggested that they would trade places and he would rule Korkyra while his son came to rule Corinth. To prevent that, the Korkyraeans killed Lycophron. In punishment, Periander captured 300 young men of Korkyra with the intention of castrating them.[4] That is more likely to be a myth explaining the animosity between Corinth and Korkyra and justifying the use of the word tyrant for Periander's rule than an actual historical event.[5]
Persian War
During the Persian War of 480 BC, Greek envoys were sent to Korkyra requesting aid. Korkyra enthusiastically promised ships and fitted out 60 of them, but they failed to arrive in time for the Battle of Salamis. Herodotus ascribes that to a desire among the Korkyraeans to remain neutral and thus not to support the losing side. The excuse given for failing to join the battle was unfavourable winds, but Herodotus says that had the Persians been victorious, the Korkyraeans would have claimed to have deliberately avoided the battle to gain favour from the invading Persians.[6]
Peloponnesian War
Writing between 431 and 395 BC, Thucydides credited Korkyra's conflict with Corinth over their joint city
In 427 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, there was a revolution and civil war in Korkyra between the democrats, who wished to remain in an alliance with Athens, and the aristocrats, who claimed that they were being enslaved to Athens and wished to form an alliance with Corinth and Lacadaemon. After a period of violent skirmishes, the democrats won with the assistance of the Athenian navy and subsequently slaughtered those they suspected of being an enemy while the rest fled to the Greek mainland.[8]
4th century BC
Around 375 BC, a Peloponnesian fleet, under the command of Mnasippus, attacked Korkyra. After the siege, the resident Korkyraeans, suffering from hunger, deserted, were sold as slaves or were later put to death by Mnesippus.[9]
Hellenistic Period
During the
Korkyra remained a member of the Epirote League until 255 BC, when it regained independence after the death of Alexander II, last King of Epirus. In 229 BC, after a Greek defeat in the naval Battle of Paxos, the city briefly suffered an occupation by Illyrians, under the command of Demetrius of Pharos. Polybius wrote on the background of the incident in that same year: "When the season for sailing had come, [Queen] Teuta sent out a larger fleet of [piratical] galleys than ever against the Greek shores, some of which sailed straight for Corcyra...." Another part of the fleet that had sailed for Epidamnius was repulsed went also "there, to the terror of the inhabitants, they disembarked and set about besieging the town... the Corcyreans... sent off envoys to the Achaean and Aetolian leagues, begging for instant help... ten decked ships of war belonging to the Achaeans were manned... fitted out in a few days, set sail for Corcyra in hopes of raising the siege." However, "the Illyrians obtained a reinforcement of seven decked ships from the Acarnanians" engaging off the island of Paxi. They bested the Achaeans, capturing four ships and sinking one; the remaining five ran back home. "The Illyrians, on the other hand, filled with self-confidence by their success, continued their siege of [Corcyra] in high spirits... while the Corcyreans, reduced to the despair of their safety by what had happened, after sustaining the siege for a short time longer, made terms with the Illyrians, consenting to receive a garrison, and with it Demetrius of Pharos."
The
See also
References
- ^ An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen, 2005, page 361
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.13.
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.36.3
- ^ Herodotus, The Histories 3.48-52.
- ^ Osborne, R. 1996. Greece in the Making 1200-479BC. Routledge.
- ^ Herodotus, The Histories 7.168.
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.24-45.
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.69-85.
- ^ Xenophon, A History of My Times 6.2.4-23.
- ^ Justin, 25, 4, 8.
- ^ Guide to Greece 1.11.6.
- ^ The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1992.