History of Kefalonia
Prehistoric Years
From the stone tools found in Haliotata- Spilios position- and in Fournia
peninsula in Fiscardo it has been concluded that Kefalonia has been inhabited
since pre-historic times. Dr. G. Kavadias’ collection, which is exhibited at the
Archeological Museum of Argostoli, proves that the first inhabitant of Kefalonia
lived on the island before 50.000 B.C. A large number of findings and legends
link the island to the prehistoric years.
Early Historic Years
“TETRAPOLIS” is how the historian Thucydides named the island. Kefalonia was
divided into four City- States: Krani, Palli, Sami and Pronnoi. They were
independent and autonomous Cities and their borders were determined by their
natural ground formation. Etymologically and according to mythology the names of
the City- States came from the names of the four sons of Kefalos. Their
government was democratic. Many tombs in many different places of the island-
Kokolata, Mazarakata, Razata, Tzannata, Kontogenada etc, - prove that Kefalonia
was an important Mycenaean Center. In the Archeological Museum of Argostoli one
can admire pre- Mycenaean, Mycenaean and Post- Mycenaean findings from these
tombs. The Gods worshiped in Kefalonia show the connection of the island with
mainland Greece. In Krani, Aenos, Pronnoi and Minies there are still remains of
the temples dedicated to these Gods. Kefalonia was entirely conquered by the
Romans in 188 B.C.
The Byzantine Years
During the early years of the Byzantine Era Kefalonia belonged to the Achaia
province and later (9th- 11th century) there is evidence of the Kefalonian
sector which aimed, due to its strategic position, to contribute to the defense
of the vast Byzantine Empire.
From time to time the island suffered many and frequent raids. Robert Guiscard
occupied the island temporarily as did Roger II of Cicely whose occupation
finalized the secession of kefalonia from Byzantio.
The Frankish Rule
The great pirate Margaritonis essentially “opens” the postbyzantine era of the
Frankish Rule. Sovereignty was taken over by the Orsini feudal in 1195 and was
given to the house of Tocchi as a county in 1357. The short but tough Turkish
occupation lasted 17 years and ended with the conquest of the Castle of St.
George, the capital of the island, by the Venetians and the Spanish in 1500.
The Venetian, French and other conquerors.
The Venetian domination lasted 300 years. The French domination started in 1797
and brought about a new era of continuous political changes. Later the allied
Russian and Turkish fleet foster the revolution against the French and in 1800-
1807 the “Eptanisos Politia” under the formal name “Politia ton Epta Enomenon
Nison’ is created. The short French domination (1807- 1809) was halted by the
British who stayed until 1864. All these successive revolutions and the
appearance of the first socialist formations in our history, leading to the 21st
of May 1864 when Kefalonia and Ithaca were re-united with Greece.
Contemporary Historical Events
From 1940 to 1943 Kefalonia was dominated by the Italians. In September 1943,
during the Italian- German conflict, thousands of Italian soldiers from the
Acqui division were slaughtered by the Germans. During the same period Argostoli
and the settlements around were bombed by the German bombers resulting in many
deaths and property destruction.
The short German domination was very trying for the population, as many
resistance fighters were executed by the German occupation army only to be
followed by the fierce civil war.
The earthquake of 1953 changed the island thoroughly and altered its course in
history. Argostoli and most of the villages were totally ruined with a great
number of injured and dead. In the years following the earthquake, migration and
maritime employment emerged as the solution to unemployment. This resulted in a
sharp decline in population and cultural, economic and social inertia.
The reversal comes about in the 80’s. In the 1981 census, the prefecture of
Kefalonia rates first in population decline in Greece. Twenty years later, in
the 2001 census, the island came first in population increase in Greece. Today
it continues its dynamic development and is considered one of the most rapidly
developing tourist areas in the whole country.
History of Ithaca
Anient Greek Mythology of Ithaka (Ithaca)
Ithaki (ancient Ithaka) is said to have taken its name from the island's first
settler, Ithacus, son of Poseidon and Amphimele. When he and his brothers,
Neritus and Polyctor, grew up, they came to live on the island. Another myth has
it that Ithacus was the son of Pterelaus and grandson of Taphius. Other experts
believe that the name is from the Phoenician "Utica" (distant colony) or "Ithys"
(cheerful, frank). the island's conquerors gave it various names, such as
Nericie, Val de Compare (Valley of the Godfather), Fiaki, and finally Thiaki.
Its most important hero, however, was not Ithacus, but resourceful Odysseus, the
most popular character in Greek mythology and one of the most famous and
best-loved heroes in Homer's epics. Homer was a mythographer, and thus what he
conveys lies somwehere between myth and reality.
Hermes and Chione, a nymph of snowy Mt. Parnassus, had a son, Aytolycus, who as
he grew up proved himself adept at stealing and breaking oaths. At the same time
another wily shepherd, Sisyphus, used to graze his sheep next to those of
Autolycus. One would steal the other's sheep, until Autolycus was defeated in a
contest of trickery. Then he got the idea that a son born to his daughter
Anticleia and Sisyphus would inherit both his parent's cunning. Sisyphus,
impatient to lie down with the fair maiden, didn't wait until his wedding night.
Laertes asked for Anticleia's hand in marriage, when she had already become
pregnant by Sisyphus (tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides).
Another myth says that Odysseus was the lawful son of Laertes and Anticleia, and
that he was born in the cave on Mt. Niritos because it was raining. Autolycus
named his grandson Odysseus, that is, hated by everyone (as Homer interprets it
in the Odyssey). After he grew up, he visited his grandfather on Mt. Parnassus,
where his knee was injured during a wild boar hunt. Odysseus was sure Helen of
Troy was going to choose him for a husband. But she chose Menelaus, and Odysseus
took Penelope, daughter of Icarius and Periboea or Polycaste.
In the beginning, Odysseus did not want to take part in the Trojan War, but he
was finally forced to. He fought heroically and revealed his crafty, resourceful
character, particularly in the ruse of the Trojan Horse, which brought about the
fall of Troy. But his adventures were not over when the war ended, because he
had by that time provoked the wrath of several gods. The winds blew him to
Thrace, where he overcame Ismarus. From there he headed south, to the Land of
the Lotus-Eaters, where whoever ate the fruit of the lotus wanted to stay. Then
he sailed to northern Sicily and the land of the Cyclopes. The Cyclopes were
terrible man-eating giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads. One of
them, Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, would have eaten Odysseus and his men, if
Odysseus and not got him drunk and blinded him. Bound to the underbellies of the
giant's sheep, the prisoners tricked Polyphemus and escaped. This enraged
Poseidon, and from that point on he was behind everything bad that befell
Odysseus.
On the island of Aeolus, the god gave Odysseus the sack containing the winds;
his curious companions, however, let loose the bad winds which blew them
straight to the land of the man-eating Laestryogonians. Only one of Odysseus'
ships was saved, which reached the island of Aeaea, where Circe lived. She was a
sorceress who turned passing sailors into swine. When his companions didn't
return to the ship, Odysseus went to see Circe himself. Hermes revealed her
secret to him, and, after saving his companions, he stayed on the island for a
month and had Telegonus by her. In the Land of the Cimmerians, the blind prophet
Teiresias foresaw his future. Odysseus' next adventure took place near the
island of the Sirens - women above the waist and birds below. With their superb
singing they caused ships to run against the rocks and then ate the sailors.
Odysseus stopped up the ears of his companions and tied himself to the mast.
Then he passed the monsters Scylla and Charybdis who caused storms and devoured
shipwrecked sailors. Odysseus' men persuaded him to put in at the island of
Thrinacia. Unfavorable winds kept them there until some of them were so hungry
that they slaughtered the sacred cattle of the Sun, who sank their ship, and
only Odysseus survived. He landed on the island of Calypso, where he remained
for years, until Zeus took pity on him and ordered Calypso to let him go. He
built a wooden raft and after suffering Poseidon's wrath once again, he was
washed up on the island of the hospitable Phaecians. He stayed with them for a
short time and finally made it home to Ithaca. There Athena transformed him into
a beggar and he went to his palace, where certain noblemen, the so called
suitors of Penelope, were now living and squandering his wealth while they
waited for her to choose one of them to marry. But she kept using various ruses
to postpone making a decision. Odysseus appeared at the appropriate moment and
killed them.
Homer's tale ends here, but tradition has given us two versions of Odysseus'
death: one, that the relatives of the suitors forced him to leave the island,
and he died in Tyrrenia in Italy at an advanced age, and the other that
Teiresias' prophecy was fulfilled; Odysseus had to appease Poseidon by taking an
oar and going to a country where where the people would ask him what it was he
was carrying. There he was to sacrifice to Poseidon and then return home, but
death would finally come to him on the sea. With regard to his death, Eugamon
the Cyrenaean said that he dreamt his son would kill him, so he decided to exile
Telemachus to Kefalonia. But his other son, Telegonus, arrived and plundered and
ravaged the land until Odysseus tried to stop him. Telegonus killed his father
with a spear tipped with a poisoned fish-bone.
The Olympian gods, particularly Athena, Hera, Apollo and his sister, Artemis,
were worshipped in Ithaka.
Meet the history of Ithaka (Ithaca)
Ithaki was first inhabited in 4000-3000 BC. Information about its first
inhabitants who were indigenous Greeks, comes from shards incised with the
Linear A script found in Pilikata. Finds from the Pilikata settlement and Loizos
Cave date back as far as 3000-2000 BC. By 1500 BC, the whole island was
inhabited. The island's civilization reached a high point in 1000 BC, when the
kingdom of Ithaca included the other Ionian islands and part of the coast of
Arcanania. The decline that followed was mainly due to exhaustion of the soil.
The northern part of the island, however remained inhabited and under
cultivation. After 180 BC Ithaki was part of the Roman province of Illyria.
Later its port town, Polis or Jerusalem, was built; Anna Comnene refers to it in
her "Alexias". The port was gradually abandoned and sank into the sea after the
earthquake in 967 AD. In 1086 the first pirates appeared on the scene. In 1185,
Ithaki was conquered by the Normans, who ceded it in 1200 to the Orsini family.
The Orsinis remained rulers of the island until 1357, when the king of Naples
handed it over to the Tocco family. The Turks sacked Ithaki, along with the rest
of the Ionian islands, in 1479. Material damage was tremendous, many hostages
were sold as slaves. Of the remaining population, many abandoned the island.
When war broke out between the Turks and the Venetians in 1499, Ithaki, sharing
the fate of neighbouring Kefalonia, was signed over in a treaty to the
Venetians. The Venetian senate, concerned about the reduction in population due
to fear of pirates and the Turks, granted lands to anyone who would come back,
and exempted them from taxation. Many people were attracted by this offer, most
of them from mainland Greece, which was suffering under the Turkish yoke.
In 1569 Ithaki was fortified for the first time. But the Venetian governors,
taking advantage of the people's poverty and ignorance, often acted unjustly and
sometimes committed acts of violence. Despite this the island's population
increased to 10,000 and the the dawn of the 17th century found Ithaki's land
under cultivation; the island had also put together a commercial fleet that was
carrying on trade with Europe. This fleet took part in all the battles for
freedom from the Turks up to 1821.
In 1798, the democratic French took over the Ionian islands but held them for
only a year. Despite the heavy taxes they levied, their new revolutionary ideas
were conveyed to the islanders. The Russians and Turks succeeded the French and
a 14-member senate governed democratically until 1807. French rule returned for
another two years, and in 1809 the English occupied the Ionian Islands and
formed the "United States of the Ionian Islands".
During the Revolution of 1821, the Ithaki islanders joined the Friendly Society,
taking part in its activities and offering a place of refuge to fugitive Greeks.
It was in Galatsi in Romania that Ithacans first began the Revolution in 1821.
Two waves of emigration, one in 1829 and the other in 1845, made the Ithacans
famous as sailors and merchants abroad. Union with Greece in 1864, of which T.
Paizis and the Radical Party were strong supporters, came at a time when Ithaki
was a significant power, both in commerce and shipping.
Like the whole Ionian area, Ithaki has been stricken by repeated earthquakes.
According to Partsch, the most violent occurred in 1648. There were other
earthquakes in 1766, 1876, and between 1912 and 1918. Extensive devastation was
caused by the 1953 earthquake.
On May 1, 1941 the Italian annexation began, and September 24, 1943 saw the
beginning of the German occupation, which lasted only a year.
Archaeological Museum of Vathy
The museum contains excavation finds from Aetos, dating from the Geometric to
the Roman period and a remarkable collection of finds dated to the Geometric
period.
The most important items of the exhibition are:
- Ring-shaped vase. It has angular walls and is decorated with narrow bands on
the sides of the ring, hatched triangles on the neck, and panels with diagonals
on the handle. Dated to the end of the Late Geometric period.
- Votive inscription that mentions goddesses Athena and Hera. It was found at
Polis Cave and dates from the Late Archaic period.
Archaeological Collection of Stavros
It contains various finds from north Ithaca, spanning the period from the Early
Helladic to the Roman periods.
The museum was built in 1933. In 1994 the exhibition was rearranged and the
building was repaired.
The most important items of the exhibition are:
- Fragments of large, bronze tripods from Polis Cave. Dated to the 9th-8th
centuries B.C.
- Clay plate with a representation of a cock. It was found at Polis Cave and
dates to the 7th century B.C.
- Clay mask. Fragments of a mask with an incised inscription. Dated to the 1st
or the 2nd century B.C.
- Stone relief bearing a representation of dancing Nymphs. It was found at Polis
Cave and dates to the Hellenistic period. |
