CORFU, Greece 2 of 2

Museum of Palaeopolis & Mon Repos Estate
Mon Repos is a former royal summer residence on the island of Corfu, Greece. It lies south of Corfu City in the forest of Palaeopolis. Since 2001, it has housed the Museum of Palaiopolis—Mon Repos. British Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands, Frederick Adam, and his second wife (a Corfiot), Diamantina 'Nina' Palatino, in 1828–1831. After the union with Greece in 1864, the villa and the gardens were gifted to King George I of the Hellenes as a summer residence; he renamed it "Mon Repos" (French for "My Rest"). The Greek royal family used it as a summer residence up until King Constantine II fled the country in 1967. The villa subsequently became derelict, but was restored in the 1990s. Several royal births have taken place at the villa, including those of Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark on 26 June 1914. It was the birthplace of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (the husband of Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark. Philip was born on the dining room table.

Archaeology - Contacts with the Past
The science of archaeology is largely social in character. Through the material remains of the past, it studies the birth and development of civilizations and cultures and attempts to understand the history of mankind. In the modern age, archaeological research approaches the past as a complex cultural phenomenon and attempts to provide explanations for its various manifestations and transformations. Archaeological finds are treated as evidence for particular processes rather than as fossilized relics of the past.

A variety of factors may lead on occasion to conflict between the dynamic, changing present and the static, immutable past, which is often to the detriment of the monuments.

In post-war, Greece such conflicts have arisen from the expansion of towns, industrial and tourist development, changes in farming methods, and large-scale public works. Museums and monuments are part of the cultural heritage of Greece.Museums serve as repositories, for the benefit of society, of objects from archaeological and historical sites, and help us to derive inspiration, knowledge and pleasure from them. Monuments are, in themselves, open museums.

Trade
A major role was played in the control and development of trade on Corcyra by the island's naval superiority, concentrated on its two harbours and the area of the Agora. The economic power of Corcyra is also attested by the existence of a local mint. Corcyra founded its own mint in the late 6th c. BC. The economic development of the city, which resulted from its strategic location and its desire for political and economic independence, was a decisive factor in the rapid establishment of Corcyraean coins, especially silver issues, which were recognised throughout Greece as a reliable vehicle for commercial exchanges.
Study of Corcyraean coins, and also the coins of other cities found in excavations on the island, provides attests to the existence of a busy Agora with considerable commercial activity. In the Agora have been found hoards of Corcyraean and foreign coins buried during the course of the civil war that shook the island at the end of the 5th c. BC (Thucydides 3, 74, 2).

The Worship of Poseidon
We have no firm epigraphic or excavation evidence so far for the name of the deity worshipped in the small Doric temple at Kardaki, which was built in the 6th c. BC, directly above the spring of the same name. The scant archaeological data support the view that on the site where the altar now stands, outdoor rituals were held in honor of a chthonic deity or a local hero whose memory was preserved. It is not impossible, however, that this temple was given over to the worship of Poseidon. Such a hypothesis is supported by the mythological connection between the god of the sea and Corcyra.
In the Odyssey, Poseidon's son Nausithoös is regarded as the father of Alkinoös, and another source claims that Poseidon brought the Nymph Corcyra to the island. The excavation evidence, however, which includes an altar and a terracotta statuette of Cybele, dating from the 2nd c. BC, probably affords confirmation for the view that a chthonic deity was worshipped in the temple.

Trireme
"The Phaeacians of the long oars, mariners renowned."Odyssey xiii, 168
The trireme is the greatest achievement of ancient Greek shipbuilding. The first triremes were built in Corinth or on Samos, about 650-610 BC. The most perfect of them were the Athenian triremes, which were 37 m. long, 5.20 m. wide, and reached speeds of 9 to 12 knots. The motive power was the muscular strength of 179 oarsmen, arranged in three rows. The trireme had one main mast with a large square sail, with a smaller mast towards the prow.
According to the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, Corcyra was the leading Greek naval power in the 5th c. BC, with a fleet of 120 triremes.En savoir plus