478 



CORFU 



CORINTH 



Corfu, the most northerly and largest of the 

 Ionian Islands, at the entrance to the Adriatic 

 Sea, separated from the coast of Albania by a 

 channel from 2 to 12 miles broad, is 40 miles long 

 from north-west to south-east by 3 to 20 miles 

 broad; area, 270 sq. m. ; pop., mostly Greeks, 

 114,535. The island is traversed by mountains, 

 bare and rocky in their upper slopes, culminating 

 in Pantocrator, 2997 feet high, at the north-east 

 end. The surface is largely covered with luxuriant 

 groves of olive, cypress, and ilex. The winters are 

 rainy, the summers hot and dry. The principal 

 products are olives and wine, oranges, citrons, figs, 

 carob, silk, and honey. Maize is the chief cereal, 

 but yields only about a quarter of the consumption. 

 Goats are numerous, but there are no cattle and so 

 no butter, the substitute for which is olive-oil, the 

 principal export of Corfu. Wine is also exported 

 to Austria-Hungary and Italy. There is no proper 

 agriculture. Fishing, too, is left to the Albanians 

 and Italians. The minerals are sulphur, salt, coal, 

 and marble. The principal town, Corfu, having 

 19,025 inhabitants, is finely situated on the east 

 coast, and has a good harbour in direct steam com- 

 munication with Alexandria, Athens, Trieste, Italy, 

 and England. Corfu is the seat of a Greek arch- 

 bishop and of a Catholic bishop, and has a royal 

 palace, an Ionian academy, founded by Lord Guild- 

 ford in 1823, with a library of 35,000 volumes, a 

 gymnasium, theatre. &c. The town underwent 

 great improvements during the British protectorate, 

 but there is still room for improvement. The 

 ancient name of the island is Corcyra, but from its 

 shape it was also called Drepane, or ' sickle. ' It 

 has been incorrectly identified with the Homeric 

 Scheria. About 734 B.C. the Corinthians planted a 

 colony here, which, by its commerce, growing rich 

 and powerful, fought with the mother-country ( 665 

 B.C.) the first sea-battle on record. After many 

 vicissitudes, Corfu fell under the Roman dominion 

 (229 B.C.). For the more modern history, see 

 IONIAN ISLANDS. 



Cori, a town of South Italy, 30 miles SE. of 

 Rome, with a population of 5500. It preserves 

 the name and occupies the site of Cora, one of the 

 oldest cities of Latium. The ancient remains still 

 existing include those of the old walls, temples of 

 Hercules and of the Dioscuri, and a fine bridge. 



Coriander (Coriandrwn sativum), an annual 

 plant of the natural order Umbelliferee, with 

 branching stem, 1 to 2 feet high, the lower leaves 

 bipinnate, the upper leaves more compound, and 

 globose fruit. It is a native of the south of 

 Europe and of the East, and has long been cul- 

 tivated for the sake of its fruit ; and has thus 

 become naturalised in some parts of England, 

 although its fruit ( coriander seed ) is much less used 

 in Britain than in Germany and some other Euro- 

 pean countries. The whole plant, when fresh, has 

 a very offensive smell ; but the ripe and perfectly 

 dry fruit has an agreeable aromatic smell and a 

 sweetish aromatic taste. It is used in medicine as 

 a carminative, and as a corrective of certain purga- 

 tives ; also in domestic economy as an aromatic, 

 being very often mixed with bread in the north of 

 Europe ; spirituous liquors are flavoured with it ; 

 and confectioners cover it with sugar to make a 

 well-known kind of comfit. In the south of Eng- 

 land it is common to sow coriander and caraway 

 together, the coriander yielding a crop in the first 

 year, and the caraway in years following. Cori- 

 ander delights in a rich soil, and is much cultivated 

 and used in India. 



Corigliano, a town in the Italian province of 

 Cosenza, on the slopes of a castle-crowned hill, 

 4 miles from the Gulf of Taranto. Pop. 12,271, 

 mostly employed in cultivating the vine and corn. 



Coringa, a seaport in Godavari district, Madras, 

 stands at the northern mouth of the Godavari 

 River, 8 miles S. of Cocanada. It has declined 

 much owing to the obstruction of its harbour by 

 a bar, and to its having been twice overwhelmed 

 by a tidal wave in 1787 and 1832. Pop. 4397. 



Corinna (surnamed Muia, 'the fly '), a Greek 

 lyric poetess, a native of Tanagra, in Bceotia, wh 

 flourished about 500 B.C. She is said to have 

 instructed Pindar, and to have vanquished him 

 in a poetic contest. Only a few fragments of 

 her work remain, collected by Bergk in his Lyrici 

 Poetce Greed (Leip. 1843). Madame de StaeTa 

 Corinne was an Italian improvisatrice. For her, see 

 Vernon Lee's Studies of Italy in the 18th Century. 



Corinth, a city of Greece, celebrated in anti- 

 quity, situated on the rocky isthmus of Corinth 

 ( 3f miles wide, and 262 feet high ), which connects 

 the Peloponnesus with the mainland. The city 

 lay under the northern declivity of the mountain 

 (1886 feet high, and forming one of the strongest 

 natural fortifications in the world ) on which stood 

 its citadel ( Acrocorinthus), and had three harbours, 

 Lechseum, to the west, on the Gulf of Corinth - r 

 Cenchreee and Schcenus, to the east, on the Saronic 

 Gulf. Its position, midway between the ^Egean 

 and Adriatic Seas, was exceptionally advantageous 

 for trade. It was as easy to transport goods across- 

 the narrow isthmus called by Pindar ' the bridge 

 of the untiring sea ' as it was difficult to round 

 the Peloponnesus. In its western harbour lay the 

 ships of Italy, Sicily, and Spain ; and to Cenchres& 

 came Egyptian papyrus, Libyan ivory, Syrian per- 

 fumes, Phoenician dates, Eubcean fruits, and 

 Phrygian slaves. The exports of Corinthian 

 manufacture were chiefly productions of art, such 

 as statues, pictures, vases, pillars, and vessels of 

 metal and earthenware. Syracuse, Molycria, 

 Sollium in Acarnania, Ambracia, Anactorium, 

 Leucas, Corcyra, Epidamnus, Apollonia, and 

 Potidsea were among the colonies of Corinth. 

 At its most flourishing period it is said to have 

 had a population of 300,000, with more than half 

 a million slaves employed in the fleet and in the 

 colonies in the Mediterranean. It was at Corinth 

 that the first triremes were built, and the first 

 naval battle of the Greeks was fought between the 

 fleets of Corinth and its colony Corcyra ( see CORFU). 



According to legend, the city of Corinth ( anciently 

 called Ephyre) was founded about 1350 B.C. by the- 

 ^Eolian Sisyphus, whose descendants ruled the 

 country round till conquered by the Dorians under 

 the Heraclid Aletes in 1074. Monarchy was abol- 

 ished in 748, and an oligarchy of 200 families lasted 

 till 657, when it was overthrown by Cypselus. He 

 and his son Periander (629-585) greatly extended 

 the city's industry and trade. In 582 the old Dorian 

 constitution was restored. Corinth, which had 

 formerly been the ally of Athens, after the Persian 

 wars became jealous of the increasing power and 

 commerce of the Athenians, and joined the league 

 of the Dorian states. It waged an unsuccessful, 

 war on Athens in 458, and incited the Pelopon- 

 nesians to begin (431) the Peloponnesian war (see 

 GREECE). In 395, at the instigation of Persia, it 

 entered into an alliance with Thebes, Athens, and 

 Argos against Sparta, and the ' Corinthian War ' 

 began, which ended with the Peace of Antalcidas 

 (387), dividing, the supremacy of Greece between 

 Persia and Sparta. Timophanes made himself 

 master of Corinth in 366, but was overthrown and 

 murdered by his patriotic brother Timoleon. The 

 assemblies of the Greeks that appointed Philip and 

 Alexander of Macedon the leaders against Persia, 

 were held at Corinth in 338 and 336. Under the 

 Macedonian supremacy it was occupied by a strong 

 garrison. After the expulsion of the Macedonians it 



