Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/689

 CORCYRA. to Bufier from want of provisions; bat the Cor- cyiBflans availing themselves of the negligence of the besiegers, who had become careless, thnmgh oertaintj of sucoess, made a vigorous sally from the dtj, in which they slew Mnasippus, and many of hii troops. Shortly afterwards news arrived of the i^proach of an Athenian fleet, wherenpon the Pelo- poonesians qoitted the island in haste. (Xen. HeU, vi. 2. §§ 3—26 ; Died. xv. 47.) After the death of Alexander the Great the Corcyraeans appear to have taken an active part in opposition to Cassander. In b.c. 312, they expelled the Macedonian garrisons from ApoUonla and £pi- damnus. (Diod. xix. 78.) In b. c. 303 Cleonymns, the Spartan king, who bad oollectod a body of mer- oenaries in Italy, invaded the ishmd and became master of the city. (Diod. zz. 104, 105.) Cleonymos appears to have quitted the island soon afterwards ; for it was again independent in b. a 300, when Cassander laid siege to the city. From this danger it was deliversd by Agathticles, the tyrant of Syracuse, who burnt the Macedonian fleet (Diod. zxL Eclog. 2. p. 489, ed. Wesseling.) But Agathocles only expelled the Macedonians in order to appropriate the ishmd to himself, which he is recorded to haw laid waste, probably in consequence of the opposition of the inhabitants to his dominion. (Plut de Ser, Num. Vind, p. 557.) Shortly after- ' wards Agathocks gave Corcyra as a dowry to his daughter T.anaswa upon her marriage with Pyrrhus, king of Epeims. It remained in his hands for some years ; but Lanassa, indignant at being n^lected by Pyrrhus fiur his barbarian wives, withdrew to Coccyra, and oflfered her hand and the island to Demetrius, king of Macedonia. Demetrius accepted her proposal, and, sailing to Corcyra, celebrated his nuptials with her, left a garrison m the island, and returned to Macedonia. This happened shortly before he was expelled from Macedonia by Pyrrhus, B. c. 287. (Plut Pyrrh. 9, 10; Diod. xjd. p. 490.) Pansanias says (i. 11. § 6) that Pyrrhus conquered Corcyra soon after he had recovered his hereditary dominions ; but as Pyrrhus b^an to reign some yeare before he deprived Demetrius of the Macedonian throne, it has been conjectured that he may have invaded Corcyra, while it was in the possession of Agathocks, and that the ktter was contented to cede to him the isUnd, together with his daughter Lanassa. At a later period, probably after his return from Italy, b. a 274, Pyrrhus recovered Coreyra by the energy of his son Ptolemaeus. (Justin, XXV. 3.) After the death of Pyrrhus Corcyra again enjoyed a brief period of independence; but the lUyrian piratea, in the reign of their queen Tenta, conquered the island after defeating the Achaean and Aetolian fleets which had come to the astdstanoe of the Cor- cyraeans. Almost immediately afterwards a Roman fleet, which had been sent to punish these pirates, appeared before Corcyra ; whereupon Demetrius, the Phaiian, who had been left in charge of the island with an Illyrian garrison, surrendered it to the enemy without striking a blow, b. c. 229. (PoL ii. 9 — 1 1.) From this time Corcyra oonUnued in tlie liands of the Romans, and was an important station for their fleet in their subsequent wan in Greece. The Romans made the capital a free state (Plin. ir. 12. s. 19); but its inhabitants were so little liked even at this period, as to give rise to the proverb i€v$4pa KSpKvpa^ x*C ^^ (^^Acti (Strab. viL p. 329). It is unnecessary to Mow further CORCYRA. 671 the histoiy of the island. In the reign of Justini«n it was still called K4pKupa (Procop. B. G. iv. 22). It is now one of the seven Ionian islands under the protecUon of Great Britain, and the seat of govern- ment Corcyra, the capital of the island, was situated upon the eastern coast, upon a peninsula a little S. of the modem town of Corfu. This peninsula is formed on the one side by a small gulf or lagoon, called the Puchiera, or Lake of diUehiopulo ; and on the other side by a bay, which separates the pe* ninsula from the promontory occupied by the modem citadel. The peninsula is called Palaeopoli, but the (Mily ancient remains which it contains are the ruins of a small Doric temple on the eastern shore, facing Epeirus. Of the two ports mentioned by Thu^- dides (ii. 72), the Puckiera seems to be the one which he calls Hyllaicus ('TAAoZk^i); and the bay !)etween the peninsula and the modem citadel to be the one which he describes as lying towards Epeirus. Scylax speaks of three harboiuB, one of which was most beautiful : hence it would appear that the pre- sent harbour, although at some distance from the andei^ dty, was also used in ancient times. The small island of Vido^ in front of the present bar.* hour, is probably the island of Pttchia (nrvx'a)t where the leaders of the aristocratical party were placed after thdr surrender in B.C. 425. (Thuc. iv. 46 ) We leam from Thncydides (ii. 72) that the Acropolis was near the portus Hyllaicus, and the agora near tiie other harbour. The ancient Acropolis is tlie long undulating promontory south of the mo- dem town, and did not occupy the site of the modem citadel, which is a nearly insulated rock, with its summit split into two lofty peaks. These two peaks must have been always a striking object from the ancient town, and are probably the ^* aerias Phaea- cum arces" of Virgil (^Aen. iiL 291), a passage from which Dodwell Mid othas erroneously concluded that they were the Acropolis of Corcyra. In the middle ages these two rocks, which then became the citadel, were called Kopw^ or Kofw^l, from whence has oome, slightly oorrapted, (Kop4tol) the modem name of the town and of the island. We have no further informstion respecting the other localities of the ancient city. Among its public buildings mention is made of temples ojf Zeus, Hera, Dionysus, the Dioscuri, and Alcinous. (Thuc iiL 70, 75, 81.) The only other city in the island was Cassiopb (Kcurai6mi)t situated upon the north-eastem ex- tremity of the ishmd, opposite a town upon the coast of Epeirus of the same name. Cassiope possessed a harbour, and was distant, according to Cicero (^ad Fam. xvi. 9), 120 stadia from Corcyra. It was celebrated for its temple of Zeus Cassius, or Ca^ sius, at whose altar Nero sang : the head of the god, with the epigraph Ztvs Kdo'ior, frequently occun on coins. (Suet JVer. 22; Plm. iv. 12. 8. 19; Procop. B. G. iv. 22; Eckhel, vol. ii. pu 179, seq.) There are renuuns of the ancient town near tbe viUage, still called Cauopo. (Marmora, Hiitoria COIX OF COfCCYILV.