DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0066
42 PANORAMA OF CORFU.
careous stone, easily crumbling into pieces : the sea has made a
breach in the middle; so that it is at present divided into two rocks,
although at a distance it appears but one mass, and certainly has the
form of the body of a ship. Gibbon1 tells us that Procopius, about
the year five hundred and forty-nine, was shewn the " petrified ship of
Ulysses ; but he found it to be a recent fabric of many stones, dedi-
cated by a merchant to Jupiter Cassius." Procopius cannot allude
to the rock in question, which is entirely a work of nature. I also
landed on Pondiko-nesi, which is much larger than Tinioso : it is a
pointed rock, crowned with a chapel and some fir trees, and being at
the entrance of the great port, is probably that alluded to by Homer.
Pliny2 mentions a rock near the Phalacrian promontory which
on account of its form, gave rise to the fable of the metamorphosis
of Ulysses' ship. But the promontory in question is at the northern
extremity of Corcyra, whereas according to the account of Homer,
it must have been petrified towards the southern part of the island
in front of the city, on its return from Ithaca.
I have seen few places so strikingly beautiful as the island of Cor-
fu ; almost every point of view is a perfect picture! We made a
great many sketches, and one panorama, which gives so general an
idea of the place, that it may not be improper to mention the prin-
cipal objects3 which the view contains. It was taken from the
steeple of a church nearly in the centre of the city: the whole of
which is seen below the spectator's eye, with its fortresses and ports.
The mouth of Potamos is discovered and a port beyond it towards
■ Rom. Hist. vol. 7. p. 377. 2 Nat. Hist. b. 4. c. 12.
5 Bearings from the town of Corfu, of different objects in the Panorama.
Mouth of Potamos, n.46°w.; point of Pantokrator near Potamos, n. 18° w.; other
point, N.6°w.; Acroceraunian summit, n. 14°£.; mount Sopoti, n. 21° e.; Butrinto,
N. 37° E. ; mount Libokabo, n. 490 E.. mount Sosmi, n. 57° E.; mount Samanda.
n. 67° E.; mount Lia, n. 74° E.; defile of the river Thyamis, s. 72° e. ; steep rock above
the Thyamis, mountains of Paramathia, and the fort on the Esplanade, s. 64° 5" E.; a
cape, perhaps Cheimerian, s. 27 e.; Leucadia, s. 15° E. ; highest hill near the old port,
s. 36° 11" w.
careous stone, easily crumbling into pieces : the sea has made a
breach in the middle; so that it is at present divided into two rocks,
although at a distance it appears but one mass, and certainly has the
form of the body of a ship. Gibbon1 tells us that Procopius, about
the year five hundred and forty-nine, was shewn the " petrified ship of
Ulysses ; but he found it to be a recent fabric of many stones, dedi-
cated by a merchant to Jupiter Cassius." Procopius cannot allude
to the rock in question, which is entirely a work of nature. I also
landed on Pondiko-nesi, which is much larger than Tinioso : it is a
pointed rock, crowned with a chapel and some fir trees, and being at
the entrance of the great port, is probably that alluded to by Homer.
Pliny2 mentions a rock near the Phalacrian promontory which
on account of its form, gave rise to the fable of the metamorphosis
of Ulysses' ship. But the promontory in question is at the northern
extremity of Corcyra, whereas according to the account of Homer,
it must have been petrified towards the southern part of the island
in front of the city, on its return from Ithaca.
I have seen few places so strikingly beautiful as the island of Cor-
fu ; almost every point of view is a perfect picture! We made a
great many sketches, and one panorama, which gives so general an
idea of the place, that it may not be improper to mention the prin-
cipal objects3 which the view contains. It was taken from the
steeple of a church nearly in the centre of the city: the whole of
which is seen below the spectator's eye, with its fortresses and ports.
The mouth of Potamos is discovered and a port beyond it towards
■ Rom. Hist. vol. 7. p. 377. 2 Nat. Hist. b. 4. c. 12.
5 Bearings from the town of Corfu, of different objects in the Panorama.
Mouth of Potamos, n.46°w.; point of Pantokrator near Potamos, n. 18° w.; other
point, N.6°w.; Acroceraunian summit, n. 14°£.; mount Sopoti, n. 21° e.; Butrinto,
N. 37° E. ; mount Libokabo, n. 490 E.. mount Sosmi, n. 57° E.; mount Samanda.
n. 67° E.; mount Lia, n. 74° E.; defile of the river Thyamis, s. 72° e. ; steep rock above
the Thyamis, mountains of Paramathia, and the fort on the Esplanade, s. 64° 5" E.; a
cape, perhaps Cheimerian, s. 27 e.; Leucadia, s. 15° E. ; highest hill near the old port,
s. 36° 11" w.