CORFU HISTORY

The names Phaiacians and Kerkyra originate from Phaiacas, the son of God of the seas Posidon and Kerkyra, the nymph of the island.

Kerkyra was abducted by Posidon from Viotia in Central Greece and brought to the island. Alkinoos was Phaiacas's son and his daughter Nausicaa married Tilemahos, Odysseas's son and gave birth to a son Persepolis.

The gods loved the island and its people, and from there on, all the Phaiacians related to the gods. The gods were often guests to their houses and made the island very fertile, with mild climate and gentle Zefiros, the main wind blowing.

So the people of Kerkyra lived happy and peaceful lives. They were scared of no one. The island was at the end of the world and gods loved them. They did not include boxing or wrestling in their sports, and their entertainment was mostly dancing, guitar playing, partying and feasting.

They were all very skilful sailors. Their ships had a reputation in the rest of the world to be very fast and they seemed to be navigating by themselves - without a captain or a rudder. They reached many far away places. They would also help any shipwreckeds to return to their homes.

Their only worry was the interference with the kingdom of Alkinoos's grandfather Posidon: they feared one day Posidon would destroy their ships and surround their nation with huge mountains. Posidon did turn into stone the ship that transferred Odysseas to Ithaki, but there has been no reference anywhere about the mountains.

According to Omiros (Homer), after spending seven years on the Isle of Calypso Odysseus (Ulysses) was returning to his home island of Ithaki., when he fell victim to god Posidon's anger. He was shipwrecked, but managed to avoid the rough cost of Afionas and was washed ashore at the mouth of the river near Arilla beach on the island of Corfu.

There he found Nausikaa and he followed her to the city of Pheacians where he received a warm welcome and was treated as a honoured guest, given a ship and escorted to his home in Ithaki.

Later Corfu became a colony of the Corinthians. They were the second strongest navy fleet in Greece after the Athenians.
The Pelloponisian war was caused by Corfu. This war was of large proportions and all the states took sides with either Athens or Sparta. The Corfiots fought on the Athenians' side.

Later Corfu was to become a major link for the Romans to conquer the rest of the world.
Corfu's unique position between the coasts of Italy and Greece ensured the island developed a unique culture. Corfu was ruled by the Byzantines, then the Venetians, the French and the English, and during the Ottoman Occupation of Greece the island became the keeper of the Greek language, because the Turks never conquered it.
Corfu was the educational centre of Greece too. The Ionian Academy was founded there to develop the arts.
The island was a state for liberal ideas and free thinkers. Much of the intellectual push for liberation can be traced back to Kerkyra, with poet Dionysis Solomos, whose two poems went on to become the Greek National anthem and the Olympic Anthem, living in Kerkyra from 1828 until his death in 1857.