Greek Antiquity
In the mid-8th century BC the first Greek settlement on Corfu is established by the Eretreans from Euboia. According to archaeological evidence in 734 BC a group of political refugees from Corinth led by Chersikratis arrived in Corfu. They founded a Corinthian colony in the island, on the Canoni peninsula in the Paleopolis area. The town of Corfu quickly became an important economic force because of the trade it developed with the towns along the Adriatic coast. Also developed an important colonial activity on the shores of the mainland opposite, often in competition with the Corinthian metropolis. This competition was the reason for a series of conflicts between the two cities. According to the historian Thucydides, Corfu was one of the first cities to build a fleet of triremes.
When the Persian War was declared in 480 BC Athens asked the assistance of Corfu. A fleet of sixty ships set sail for Athens, but due to heavy seas and contrary winds they were unable to reach Salamis in time to participate in the naval battle. In 435 BC Epidamnos, a colony on the Illyrian coast, was the reason the Corfiots clashed with the Corinthians. The events at Epidamnos were one of the causes for the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).
Between the years 427 to 425 BC Corfu was ravaged and savage civil war between the aristocratic and democratic parties, the former favouring the Corinthians and the latter the Athenians. The struggles started after the return of the prisoners taken in the battle over Epidamnos. The first phase of the civil war began when the aristocratic party rushed to the assembly-building and killed a number of citizens. The fighting between the two parties ended in the victory of the democratic party.
When in 415 BC the Athenians started their expedition against Sicily, 15 Corcyraeans ships joined the fleet under the command of Nikias.That expedition ended in disaster in 413 BC. In Corfu civil war broke out between the two parties again in 410 BC when the aristocrats attempted to seize power after the failure of the Sicilian expedition. The Athenian admiral Conon with a fleet sailed to the island to assist the democrats and after much fighting and bloodshed the two factions were finally reconciled.
After the end of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians set up their second Confederacy of Greek city-states. Corfu joined the Athenian Confederation in 375 BC. The Lacedaemonians then decided to conquer the island and sent their general Mnasippos with 60 ships and 1,500 men. Troops landed on the island, plundered the countryside and encamped outside the city laying siege to the city from 373 to 372 BC, tried to reduce it by starvation. The inhabitants, assisted by 600 Athenians, took advantage of a rebellion among the invaders and made a successful sortie in the summer of 372 BC dispersing the Lacedaemonians and killing their leader. The invaders sailed away in order to avoid the Athenian fleet which was on its way to the island.
In 361 BC a bloody revolution broke out in Corfu led by the aristocratic party which, in the end, dominated the situation with the assistance of the renegade Athenian general Chares. As a result of Chares' behaviour, the allies lost little by little, confidence in the forces of Athens and headed by Corfu relinquished their ties with the Confederation.
In 303 BC the island was occupied for a short time by the Lacedeamonian general Cleonymos, then regains its independence and later it was attacked and conquered by the Syracussian tyrant Agathokles. He offered Corfu as dowry to his daughter Lanassa on her marriage to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. The island then became a member of the Epirotic alliance. It was then perhaps that the settlement of Cassiope was founded to serve as a base for the King of Epirus' expeditions. Later Lanassa divorced Pyrrhus and became the wife of Dimitrios the Besieger who controlled Corfu for a short period till it was taken back by Pyrrhus in 281 BC. The island remained in the Epirotic alliance until 255 BC when it became independent after the death of Alexander, last King of Epirus.
At that time the island, together with the entire Ionian area suffered pirate raids by Illyrian pirates. Finally in 299 BC Corfu was forced to ask for the protection of the Romans against the pirates, who in this manner set up their first base on Greek soil.
