The History Paxos Antipaxos

 

 

 

Mythology

According to the mythology Paxos was formed by the desire of Poseidon to create love nest for his lover Amphitrite.Then the God of the Sea (Poseidon) struck his trident the south edge of Corfu and The island of Paxos was formed. Hence the inspiration of the inhabitants to choose the trident as a symbol of the island.

History

The name Paxos came from the Phoenician word “paks”, which means geometric “trapezoid”, ie the island with a trapezoidal shape, as seen from the sea and from above.The history of Paxos is directly connected with that of Corfu.According to historical texts in 229 BC. the Corfiots were defeated by the Illyrians of Queen Tavta and with them  Paxos came under their occupation. From  13ththe century and in 1386 passed to the power of the Venetians.

The Venetian occupation lasted until the end of the18th century, the period which Paxos and Antipaxos threatened many times by pirates and plunder and for these reasons were built two castles, one in the Bay of Gaios on the island of St. Nicholas and one in Lakka. The Venetians themselves were the ones who intensively applied the cultivation of olives which was the main source of resources on the island, along with fishing, until the advent of tourism in the early 1970s.

Recent history

In 1797 the French expelled the Venetians, who were later replaced by the Russians and the Ottomans until 1801, when the autonomous state of the Seven United Islands was founded, which was the first form of Greek state since antiquity. The Paxos together with the Antipaxos had an independent participation in the state and their own emblem, the trident.From 1807 the State was overthrown by Napoleon and French rule until 1814 when powerful English forces led by the Greek Major Theodore Kolokotronis occupied the island and annexed it to the United Kingdom.

In 1821 Paxos participated in the Greek revolution.One of the revolutionary heroes of the island was the burlotier Georgios Anemogiannis who lost his life at the age of 23 in Nafpaktos, whose statue exists in the port of Gaios. After the founding of the Greek state, the people of Paxos followed the union with the rest of the Ionian Islands, which came on May 21, 1864.

There is a corresponding monument in the central square of Corfu.