Corcyra

Abstract

Abstract The migrants who founded the polis of Corcyra on the homonymous island (modern Corfu) c. 730 BCE chose an ideal site: an easily defensible peninsula, located on major trade routes, and with access to good farmland. Corcyra rapidly developed into a prosperous community, and the seventh and sixth centuries saw a flourishing of the arts, most notably in the design and decoration of temples. Corcyra had almost from the outset a complicated, sometimes overtly hostile relationship with its metropolis Corinth. By the early sixth century, it became a completely independent polity with its own ambitions. The Corcyraeans found it advantageous to remain neutral and kept their distance from the political and military entanglements of the Greek mainland. The history of Corcyra is thus a reminder that many Greek communities, unlike the more actively interventionist ones like Athens that more prominently feature in the extant literary sources, preferred to attend to their own affairs.