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| THE ROMAN REIGN 229 – 337 BC At this time Rome had begun its eastward conquest and expansion. Corfu was already at war with the Illyrians, who continuously pillaged her territories. In desperation Corfu turned to Rome. After the continuos civil and external wars, the Phaeacian state, which had been the greatest naval strength after Athens and the first Greek Democracy, could no longer be considered to have it’s own historical identity. It began to follow the general decline of the rest of the Greek State and its fate was tied to that of the different conquerors. The Phaeacians finally surrendered of their own accord to the Romans in 229 BC, with a commitment on the side of the conquerors to protect the island from destructive raids and looting no matter where they originated. At the same time they gave up all rights to appoint their own ruler to the island. EAST ROMAN REIGN 337 – 733 BC Around the time of the emperor, Constantine, the Roman State was divided into Administrations, Prefectures and Provinces. Corfu fell into the Administration of Illyria. With the death of Constantine in 337 BC and the division of the Roman State into the North (Spain, France, England), the East (Constantinople, Asia and the Eastern Provinces) and the West (Italy, Illyria, Greece and Africa), Corfu was included in the last mentioned. Finally under the emperor, Theodosia, Corfu found herself in the eastern section of an empire that was divided into east and west only, a condition that existed for approximately three and a half centuries. BARBARIAN RAIDS With the decline of the Roman Empire, there was a sharp increase in raids by Vandals. During this period Corfu suffered great devastation. In 455 the Vandal fleet attacked and Corfu was laid waste. There follows the raids of the Goths, in 550, in which all the rural areas suffered looting while the town was destroyed, only to be rebuilt on the double-peaked rock –later named ‘Corfi’- where the Old Fort stands today. Corfu naturally shared all the ups and downs of the East Roman Empire up to 733 when the Byzantine era began. |
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