DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0061
COMPENDIUM OF THE HISTORY OF CORCYRA. 37
owing to the vices of its administration, and its want of moderation
in prosperity. It was taken from the Byzantine emperor Ma-
nuel Comnenus,1 by Roger Normannus king of Sicily, in the
twelfth century, and was afterwards possessed for a short time by
a Genoese pirate, named Leon Vetrano, from whom it was taken
by Pietro Zane, doge of Venice, who sent thither a Venetian colony,2
and the pirate and his adherents were hanged. It was afterwards
taken by Peter Polanus the Venetian doge, in 1546, and until within
these few years, was the capital of the Venetian islands in the
Ionian Sea. It has for several centuries been celebrated for its
powerful fortresses, to which such great additions have been recently
made by the French, and afterwards by the English, as to render
it one of the strongest places in Europe. The two contiguous
rocks which rise from the sea, at the extremity of the Esplanade,
were no doubt fortified in the earliest times, forming the Acro-
polis of the ancient city; the " aerias Phoeacum Arces" of Vir-
gil.3 They are at present called the old forts, or le due Ma-
melle, from their mamillary form, and are approached by a long-
drawbridge, built over an artificial canal, Avhich may be filled with
sea water, whereby they become insulated. The two rocks in
question, and indeed the whole island,4 if we could credit the ancient
mythologists, owe their origin to a curious circumstance : Saturn
mutilated his father Ccelus with a scythe; the spoils and the scythe
together being thrown into the sea, the former became the two rocks,
and the latter the island, which, accordingly, took the name of
Drepanon, or Drepane. Since the present journey was made,
Corfu, with the other Ionian islands, has been placed under the
protection of the British government; and its little rebellions, mur-
ders, and intrigues, are now at an end. The Ionian islands are
called by the Turks (p^yKov^a-icc, the Frank islands.
1 Nicetas Chroniat. b. 2. p. 52, 53. Paris edit.
2 Hist, de Constantinop. sous les Empp. Francois, b. 2. p. 45. Paris edit.
3 iEneid, 3. v. 291. * Apollonius Rhod. Argonaut, b. 4. v. 963, &c.
owing to the vices of its administration, and its want of moderation
in prosperity. It was taken from the Byzantine emperor Ma-
nuel Comnenus,1 by Roger Normannus king of Sicily, in the
twelfth century, and was afterwards possessed for a short time by
a Genoese pirate, named Leon Vetrano, from whom it was taken
by Pietro Zane, doge of Venice, who sent thither a Venetian colony,2
and the pirate and his adherents were hanged. It was afterwards
taken by Peter Polanus the Venetian doge, in 1546, and until within
these few years, was the capital of the Venetian islands in the
Ionian Sea. It has for several centuries been celebrated for its
powerful fortresses, to which such great additions have been recently
made by the French, and afterwards by the English, as to render
it one of the strongest places in Europe. The two contiguous
rocks which rise from the sea, at the extremity of the Esplanade,
were no doubt fortified in the earliest times, forming the Acro-
polis of the ancient city; the " aerias Phoeacum Arces" of Vir-
gil.3 They are at present called the old forts, or le due Ma-
melle, from their mamillary form, and are approached by a long-
drawbridge, built over an artificial canal, Avhich may be filled with
sea water, whereby they become insulated. The two rocks in
question, and indeed the whole island,4 if we could credit the ancient
mythologists, owe their origin to a curious circumstance : Saturn
mutilated his father Ccelus with a scythe; the spoils and the scythe
together being thrown into the sea, the former became the two rocks,
and the latter the island, which, accordingly, took the name of
Drepanon, or Drepane. Since the present journey was made,
Corfu, with the other Ionian islands, has been placed under the
protection of the British government; and its little rebellions, mur-
ders, and intrigues, are now at an end. The Ionian islands are
called by the Turks (p^yKov^a-icc, the Frank islands.
1 Nicetas Chroniat. b. 2. p. 52, 53. Paris edit.
2 Hist, de Constantinop. sous les Empp. Francois, b. 2. p. 45. Paris edit.
3 iEneid, 3. v. 291. * Apollonius Rhod. Argonaut, b. 4. v. 963, &c.