40.000BC-735BC
FROM THE CAVE-DWELLERS TO THE FIRST SETTLERS

Corfu was not always an island: during the Paleolithic Period it was joined with the mainland opposite. Archaeological finds from this period (70,000-40,000 BC) have been made at Ag. Mathaios. Separation from the mainland occurred during the Neolithic period (10,000-8,000BC) when, with the melting of the ice, the level of the sea rose. Traces of the Neolithic Period are to be found at Sidari. In the north-west of the island, at Kefali, Afionas and Ermones, Bronze Age settlements (2,000 BC) have been found.

Apollonias the Rodian, in the "Argonautika" refers to the fact that Jason hid here with the Argonauts and Medea, in order to escape the Colchians.

In the "Odyssey" Homer has Odysseus brought to Corfu, exhausted and naked, to be found by Nausicaa, the daughter of the ruler of the island, King Alkinoos. (The second rhapsody of the Iliad).

In those days the inhabitants of the island were of Phoenician descent while, later, immigrants began to arrive from Hyperia - now known as Sicily, from Illyria and even Crete, Mycenae and the Aegean, as verified by Professor Dorpfeld in his excavations of 1914.

The first Greek settlers came from Eretria in Euboea, around 775-750 BC. A little later political refugees from Corinth fled to the island, bringing with them their highly developed political outlook.

735-435 BC
THE CORINTHIANS IN CORCYRA

Under the leadership of Chersicrates a powerful Corcyra was created, with colonies, economic wealth, and naval power, but political differences divided the Phaiacians into Democrats and Oligarchs, and after 300 years of peaceful co-existence the inhabitants of Corcyra found themselves in conflict with the Corinthians over their jointly-held colony Epidamnos (today known as Durres). The Athenians support for Corcyra gave rise to the start of the Peloponnesian Wars.

435-229 BC
CORCYRA'S ATHENIAN ALLIES

The alliance lasted for almost a century. In spite of the internal conflict between the aristocratic and the democratic parties the Corcyrans were able to give strong support to the Athenians in many battles, thanks to their powerful navy. But in 338 BC, at Chaeroneia, the Macedonians, under Philip II, won the battle, dissolving the Athenian Alliance and conquering Corcyra. It was then that Alexander the Great visited the island, was enchanted by its beauty and placed it under his protection for almost 35 years. From 300 BC onwards, Corcyra became at various times the temporary possession of the Spartans, the Syracusians, and the Illyrians, who eventually handed the island over to the Romans, in 229 BC.

229BC.-337AD.
THE ROMAN OCCUPATION

In occupying Corcyra, the Romans conquered their first Greek territory. From the oligarchic party, they fashioned their own ruling class and thrust the entire island into a state of deep decline. In their time, the first century AD, Jason and Sosipatros, disciples of the Apostle, Saint Paul, brought Christianity to the island. A little later, Nero visited Kassiopi, a plague epidemic struck the island, and the persecution of the Christians began.