Four Years in the Ionian Islands


Book Description




The Ionian Islands and Epirus


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Drawing a portrait of the islands off the coast of Greece, Corfu resident Jim Potts narrates the cultural legacies of this unique place from Homer to modern times.




The Ionian Islands


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The Ionian Islands stretch south from the Adriatic, where Corfu’s Pantokrator mountain overlooks Albania across narrow straits, along the western coast of mainland Greece through Paxi, Kephalonia, Ithaca, Lefkada and Zakynthos, to Kythira, midway between Athens and Crete. Three crucial sea-battles were fought here – Sybota (the first recorded), Actium and Lepanto – an indication of the Ionians’ role as an East-West crossroads, between Western Christendom and the Orthodox and Islamic East. Ruled by Venice in her Stato da Mar (sea-empire), the islands became an independent state, as the Septinsular Republic and then, under British Protection, as the United States of the Ionian Islands. Before the mainland Greeks had a State, the Ionian people were proud of having a university – from 1824 – in Corfu town, a World Heritage Site. The islands were united with the Kingdom of Greece in 1864 – the first addition to its territory. This book (with over thirty illustrations) explores the history, archaeology, languages, customs and culture of the Ionian Islands. Without venturing far from the islands, readers will learn much about this distinctive part of the Mediterranean and Greek world. The chapters range from the mythology of the Bronze Age (Homer’s Scheria, where Odysseus startled Nausicaa as she bathed) to today, concentrating particularly on the British Protectorate (1815–1864). One, illustrated by contemporary maps, deals with descriptions of the islands by a fourteenth-century Venetian writing in Latin. The roles of Jews, Souliot refugees, Greek revolutionaries, rebel peasants in Cephalonia, and workers in Corfu’s port suburb of Mandouki are examined in detail. There are contributions on religion and philosophy, as well as literature, music, painting, and the folk-art of carved walking-canes.







The History of Families and Households: Comparative European Dimensions


Book Description

The history of family and households has been the subject of intensive research for over a generation. In the 1970s Peter Laslett and others set the agenda with a strong emphasis on geographical differences between northern and southern, eastern and western Europe. Others have challenged this view, pioneering different approaches. This volume takes stock of the field, focussing particularly on family history in South-East Europe in comparison with the rest of Europe. The authors consider what European families have in common, their regional and local differences and changes over time, using the rich and fascinating variety of sources and methods used by family historians today. Contributors include: Guido Alfani, Judit Ambrus, Mirjana V. Bobić, Siegfried Gruber, Peter Guzowski, Violetta Hionidou, Daniela Lombardi, Beatrice Moring, Silvia Sovič, Pat Thane, Alice Velková, Marta Verginella, and Pier Paolo Viazzo.