station and gave it the rank of a free state. In 31 B.C. it served Octavian (Augustus) as a base against Antony.
Eclipsed by the foundation of Nicopolis, Corcyra for a long time passed out of notice. With the rise of the Norman kingdom in Sicily and the Italian naval powers, it again became a frequent object of attack. In 1081–1085 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in 1147–1154 by Roger II. of Sicily. During the break-up of the Later Roman Empire it was occupied by Genoese privateers (1197–1207) who in turn were expelled by the Venetians. In 1214–1259 it passed to the Greek despots of Epirus, and in 1267 became a possession of the Neapolitan house of Anjou. Under the latter’s weak rule the island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers; hence in 1386 it placed itself under the protection of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal sovereignty over it. Corcyra remained in Venetian hands till 1797, though several times assailed by Turkish armaments and subjected to two notable sieges in 1536 and 1716–1718, in which the great natural strength of the city again asserted itself. The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat enervating policy towards the natives, who began to merge their nationality in that of the Latins and adopted for the island the new name of Corfu. The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice. The island served as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of the first academy of modern Greece, but no serious impulse to Greek thought came from this quarter.
By the treaty of Campo Formio Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years, until they were expelled by a Russo-Turkish armament (1799). For a short time it became the capital of a self-governing federation of the Hephtanesos (“Seven Islands”); in 1807 its faction-ridden government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was vainly besieged by a British fleet. When, by the treaty of Paris of November 5, 1815, the Ionian Islands were placed under the protectorate of Great Britain, Corfu became the seat of the British high commissioner. The British commissioners, who were practically autocrats in spite of the retention of the native senate and assembly, introduced a strict method of government which brought about a decided improvement in the material prosperity of the island, but by its very strictness displeased the natives. In 1864 it was, with the other Ionian Islands, ceded to the kingdom of Greece, in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. The island has again become an important point of call and has a considerable trade in olive oil; under a more careful system of tillage the value of its agricultural products might be largely increased.
Corfu contains very few and unimportant remains of antiquity. The site of the ancient city of Corcyra (Κέρκυρα) is well ascertained, about 112 m. to the south-east of Corfu, upon the narrow piece of ground between the sea-lake of Calichiopulo and the Bay of Castrades, in each of which it had a port. The circular tomb of Menecrates, with its well-known inscription, is on the Bay of Castrades. Under the hill of Ascension are the remains of a temple, popularly called of Neptune, a very simple Doric structure, which still in its mutilated state presents some peculiarities of architecture. Of Cassiope, the only other city of ancient importance, the name is still preserved by the village of Cassopo, and there are some rude remains of building on the site; but the temple of Zeus Cassius for which it was celebrated has totally disappeared. Throughout the island there are numerous monasteries and other buildings of Venetian erection, of which the best known are Paleocastrizza, San Salvador and Pelleka.
Authorities.—Strabo vi. p. 269; vii. p. 329; Herodotus viii. 168; Thucydides i.-iii.; Xenophon, Hellenica, vi. 2; Polybius ii. 9-11; Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, ch. xi.; H. Jervis, The Ionian Islands during the Present Century (London, 1863); D. F. Ansted, The Ionian Islands in the Year 1863 (London, 1863); Riemann, Recherches archéologiques sur les Îles ioniennes (Paris, 1879–1880); J. Partsch, Die Insel Korfu (Gotha, 1887); B. Schmidt, Korkyräische Studien (Leipzig, 1890); B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), pp. 275-277; H. Lutz in Philologus, 56 (1897), pp. 71-77; also art. Numismatics: Greek, § “Epirus.” (E. Gr.; M. O. B. C)
CORI (anc. Cora), a town and episcopal see of the province of
Rome, Italy, 36 m. S.E. by rail from the town of Rome, on the
lower slopes of the Volscian mountains, 1300 ft. above sea-level.
Pop. (1901) 6463. It occupies the site of the ancient Volscian
town of Cora, the foundation of which is by classical authors
variously ascribed to Trojan settlers, to the Volscians (with a later
admixture of Latins), and to the Latins themselves. The last
is more probable (though in that case it was the only town of
the Prisci Latini in the Volscian hills), as it appears among the
members of the Latin league. Coins of Cora exist, belonging
at latest to 350–250 B.C. It was devastated by the partisans
of Marius during the struggle between him and Sulla. Before
the end of the Republic it had become a municipium. It lay
just above the older road from Velitrae to Terracina, which
followed the foot of the Volscian hills, but was 6 m. from the
Via Appia, and it is therefore little mentioned by classical
writers. It is comparatively often spoken of in the 4th century,
but from that time to the 13th we hear hardly anything of it,
as though it had almost ceased to exist. The remains of the
city walls are considerable: three different enceintes, one within
the other, enclose the upper and lower town and the acropolis.
They are built in Cyclopean work, and different parts vary considerably
in the roughness or fineness of the jointing and hewing
of the blocks; but explorations at Norba (q.v.) have proved that
inferences as to their relative antiquity based upon such considerations
are not to be trusted. There is a fine single-arched
bridge, now called the Ponte della Catena, just outside the town
on the way to Norba, to which an excessively early date is often
assigned.
At the summit of the town is a beautiful little Doric tetrastyle temple, belonging probably to the 1st century B.C., built of limestone with an inscription recording its erection by the duumviri. It is not known to what deity it was dedicated; and there is no foundation for the assertion that the porphyry statue of Minerva (or Roma) now in front of the Palazzo del Senatore, at Rome, was found here in the 16th century. Lower down are two columns of a Corinthian temple dedicated to Castor and Pollux, as the inscription records. The church of Santa Oliva stands upon the site of a Roman building. The cloister, constructed in 1466–1480, is in two storeys; the capitals of the columns are finely sculptured by a Lombard artist (G. Giovannoni in L’Arte, 1906, p. 108). There are remains of several other ancient buildings in the modern town, especially of a series of large cisterns probably belonging to the imperial period. Some interesting frescoes of the Roman school of the 15th century are to be found in the chapel of the Annunziata outside the town (F. Hermanin in L’Arte, 1906, p. 45).
See G. B. Piranesi, Antichità di Cora (Rome, n.d., c. 1770); A. Nibby, Analisi della Carta dei Dintorni di Roma (Rome, 1848), i. 487 seq. (T. As.)
CORIANDER, the fruit, improperly called seed, of an umbelliferous plant (Coriandrum sativum), a native of the south of Europe and Asia Minor, but cultivated in the south of England, where it is also found as an escape, growing apparently wild. The name is derived from the Gr. κόρις (a bug), and was given on account of its foetid, bug-like smell. The plant produces
a slender, erect, hollow stem rising 1 to 2 ft. in height, with bipinnate leaves and small flowers in pink or whitish umbels. The fruit is globular and externally smooth, having five indistinct ridges, and the mericarps, or half-fruits, do not readily separate from each other. It is used in medicine as an aromatic and
carminative, the active principle being a volatile oil, obtained by distillation, which is isomeric with Borneo camphor, and may be given in doses of 12 to 3 minims. On account of its pleasant
and pungent flavour it is a favourite ingredient in hot curries and sauces. The fruit is also used in confectionery, and as a flavouring ingredient in various liqueurs. The essential oil on which its aroma depends is obtained from it by distillation. The tender leaves and shoots of the young plant are used in soups and salads.
CORINGA, a seaport of British India, in the district of Godavari and presidency of Madras, on the estuary of a branch of the
