DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0056
CORFU. 33
Phseacia, Drepane, Makris, Argos, Kerkura, or Korkura, the Latin
Contra. The modern name of Corfu, or Korphu, is derived from
Koruphoi, from its double Acropolis. Some of the Byzantine his-
tories1 call it Korupho, but Procopius says it was still named Kerkura
in his time,2 and Boccaccio, in one of his stories, calls it Gurfo.
It is now named by the Greeks Koptpot. Nausithoos and his son
Alcinoos probably had their capital upon the peninsula of the
island which is opposite Epiros: the colony which was sent from
Corinth, under Chersicrates, no doubt established themselves in the
same place. Nothing is seen above ground of the remains of the
ancient city, except some frusta of large columns ; which, from hav-
ing fiutings without intervals, were evidently of the Doric order :
they have a large square base, which forms but one mass with the
column, a singularity of which I never observed any other example.
The place is now called Palaiopoli: here are also the remains of an
ancient building, apparently the cella of a temple composed of paral-
lelogram blocks of moderate dimensions, and now converted into
a church. Over the entrance of another church, built by the empe-
ror Jovianus, is the well known inscription3 in which the enthu-
siastic Iconoclast boasts of having destroyed the temples and altars
of the Greeks. Homer4 mentions a 7rocn$7iiov, or temple of Neptune,
in the Agora, and Thucydides5 notices the temples of Juno, of Bac-
chus, of the Dioscuri, of Jupiter, and of Alcinoos, at Corcyra.
There are some remains of a fortress on Mount St. Angelo, a pointed
hill, seen from the old port, which according to Andrea Marmora
was built by the emperor Michael Comnenus: this may be Mount
Istone. Several autonomous copper medals have been found in the
same spot, generally with the head of Jupiter on one side, and the
1 Anna Comnena. Alexiad, b. 1. and Nicetas Chroniat. b. 2.
2 De Bello Goth. b. 4. c. 22. p. 628. Paris edit. Anna Comnena calls it KopvQu, xo\tr
o\ypora~riv; a very strong city.
5 Wheler, vol. 1. * Odyss. 6. v. 266. 5 B. 5. c. 70.
VOL. I. F
Phseacia, Drepane, Makris, Argos, Kerkura, or Korkura, the Latin
Contra. The modern name of Corfu, or Korphu, is derived from
Koruphoi, from its double Acropolis. Some of the Byzantine his-
tories1 call it Korupho, but Procopius says it was still named Kerkura
in his time,2 and Boccaccio, in one of his stories, calls it Gurfo.
It is now named by the Greeks Koptpot. Nausithoos and his son
Alcinoos probably had their capital upon the peninsula of the
island which is opposite Epiros: the colony which was sent from
Corinth, under Chersicrates, no doubt established themselves in the
same place. Nothing is seen above ground of the remains of the
ancient city, except some frusta of large columns ; which, from hav-
ing fiutings without intervals, were evidently of the Doric order :
they have a large square base, which forms but one mass with the
column, a singularity of which I never observed any other example.
The place is now called Palaiopoli: here are also the remains of an
ancient building, apparently the cella of a temple composed of paral-
lelogram blocks of moderate dimensions, and now converted into
a church. Over the entrance of another church, built by the empe-
ror Jovianus, is the well known inscription3 in which the enthu-
siastic Iconoclast boasts of having destroyed the temples and altars
of the Greeks. Homer4 mentions a 7rocn$7iiov, or temple of Neptune,
in the Agora, and Thucydides5 notices the temples of Juno, of Bac-
chus, of the Dioscuri, of Jupiter, and of Alcinoos, at Corcyra.
There are some remains of a fortress on Mount St. Angelo, a pointed
hill, seen from the old port, which according to Andrea Marmora
was built by the emperor Michael Comnenus: this may be Mount
Istone. Several autonomous copper medals have been found in the
same spot, generally with the head of Jupiter on one side, and the
1 Anna Comnena. Alexiad, b. 1. and Nicetas Chroniat. b. 2.
2 De Bello Goth. b. 4. c. 22. p. 628. Paris edit. Anna Comnena calls it KopvQu, xo\tr
o\ypora~riv; a very strong city.
5 Wheler, vol. 1. * Odyss. 6. v. 266. 5 B. 5. c. 70.
VOL. I. F