Paxos ( gr, Παξός) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, lying just south of

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

. As a group with the nearby island of

Antipaxos Antipaxos ( el, Αντίπαξος, ) is a small island (5 km²) in Greece, about to the south of Paxos. It is administratively part of the municipality of Paxoi in Corfu regional unit in western Greece. , the resident population of the ...

and adjoining islets, it is also called by the plural form Paxi or Paxoi ( gr, Παξοί, pronounced in English and in Greek). The main town and the seat of the municipality is

Gaios Gaios ( el, Γάιος, ) is the main port on Paxos, the smallest of the seven principal Ionian Islands, in Greece. Gaios is situated on the east coast of the island. It is named after a homonymous pupil of Paul the Apostle, who brought Christi ...

. The smallest of the seven main Ionian Islands (the Heptanese), Paxos has an area of , while the municipality has an area of and a population of about 2300. Paxos lies some 15 km from the southern tip of Corfu, and at about the same distance from the town of

Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...

on the mainland. It is connected by ferry lines from

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...

and

with Gaios. The island is hilly, the highest point having an elevation of 230 m. In

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

created the island by striking Corfu with his

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

, so that he and his wife

Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (; grc-gre, Ἀμφιτρίτη, Amphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).Roman, L., & Ro ...

could have some peace and quiet.

History

Although it was possibly inhabited from prehistoric times, the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...

are traditionally held to have been the first settlers on Paxos. The name is believed to be derived from ''Pax'', which meant ''trapezoidal'' in their language. This island is noted for the

Battle of Paxos The Battle of Paxos was a naval battle between a coalition of Illyrian federation with their Acarnanian allies, against the allies of Corcyra (modern Corfu), the Achaean League and Aetolian League. The battle took place in the spring of 229& ...

, fought between the ancient Greek and Illyrian fleets during the

First Illyrian War The Illyro-Roman Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. In the ''First Illyrian War'', which lasted from 229 BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern was that the trade across the Adriatic Sea increased after the ...

in 229 BC. The battle is recorded by the ancient historian

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

(''The Histories'', book 2, chapter 2). The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ruled the island from the 2nd century BC, and during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period and

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

it was constantly attacked by pirates. After various rulers and

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

rs had passed through, the island was taken by the Venetians at the end of the 14th century. During the

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, the Ionian Islands were taken by the French and the Russo-Turkish alliance. On 13 February 1814, the island of Paxos surrendered to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

frigate HMS ''Apollo'' and 160 troops from the 2nd Greek Light Infantry from

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It i ...

and the 35th Regiment of the Royal Corsican Rangers. In 1815, the United Kingdom established the

Ionian Union The United States of the Ionian Islands ( el, Ἡνωμένον Κράτος τῶν Ἰονίων Νήσων, Inoménon-Krátos ton Ioníon Níson, United State of the Ionian Islands; it, Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie) was a Greek state and am ...

. In 1864, together with the rest of the Heptanese, Paxos was ceded to Greece.

Geography

Paxos lies some 15 km from the southern tip of Corfu, and at about the same distance from the town of

on the mainland. The island is approximately long and up to wide, stretching in northwest-southeast direction. Much of the hilly landscape is covered in olive groves. These stretch from

Lakka Lakka or is a liqueur produced in Finland which derives its flavor from the cloudberry fruit. The word means cloudberry in Finnish. The beverage is produced by soaking the berries in alcohol anywhere between two and six months until sweetene ...

, the harbour community in the north, through Magazia to Gaios, the capital. Coastal communities of Gaios, Lakka and Longos on the east coast are the three main settlements, while the interior features numerous scattered hamlets. The west coast is dominated by steep white, chalky cliffs that are greatly eroded at sea level, and harbour many "blue caves". The highest point of the island is Agios Isavros at an elevation of 231 m. Several islets lie very close to the coast of Paxos: Agios Nikolaos and Panagia protect the harbor of Gaios, while Mongonisi and Kaltsonisi lie off the southeastern tip. Antipaxos lies some 5 km further southeast. Olive oil making, soap manufacture and fishing were supplanted by tourism as the main industry in the mid sixties, resulting in a construction boom, which has greatly altered the coastline around Gaios, the capital of the Paxiot ''demos'' (community).

Province

The province of Paxoi ( el, Επαρχία Παξών) was one of the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the Corfu Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Paxoi. It was abolished in 2006.

Foreign residents

Among well known semi-permanent British inhabitants were Audrey Good, former commander of the UN refugee bases in

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

following the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

, actor

Peter Bull Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', ''Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''. Biography He was the fourth and youngest son o ...

(author of ''It Isn't All Greek to Me'') and actress Susannah York. Some members of the

Agnelli family The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known for other ...

(of

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

fame) have built a palatial holiday home—complete with ''faux'' medieval tower—on a small island of ( Kaltonisi) situated near the southernmost tip ('the heel') of Paxos, close to the beach of Mongonissi. The presence of such residents, and the development of the coastal area (mostly by Italian nationals) explains why Paxos has now become one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Greece. Paxos is part of a European network called Cultural Village of Europe. The annual Paxos Festival was founded by John Gough, and is now organised by the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

in London, and attracts some of Europe's finest young performers. This festival events usually take place between June to September and are usually held in the disused school of Longos.

Transport

The island is serviced by combined passenger and vehicle ferries which operate year-round from the port of

on the mainland of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

(1.5 hours). In the tourist season hydrofoils, passenger ferries and sea-taxis operate from Corfu (1-2 hours). A hydrofoil passenger service operates outside the tourist season, but is infrequent and weather dependent. Winter visitors should anticipate occasional periods of isolation.

Dialect

A dialect is spoken resembling that of Corfu and having a similar prosody. It is heavily influenced by Italian. Glossary of Paxiot expressions
/ref>

Communities and settlements

(nearby island) * Mogonisi (nearby island) *Panagia (nearby island) *Agios Nikolaos (nearby island) * Katsonisi (nearby island) * Apergatika * Argyratika * Arvanitakeika * Aronatika * Dalietatika *

(seat) * Gramatikeika *

(second-largest settlement) *

Loggos Loggos ( el, Λόγγος) is a village in the municipal unit of Aigialeia in the northeastern part of Achaea in the Peloponnese, Greece. The villages Loggos and Selianitika (adjacent to the southeast) share a beautiful beach on the Gulf of Cor ...

(third-largest settlement) * Magazia * Makratika * Ozias * Platanos (or Fontana / Fountana) * Velianitatika (or Veliantatika) * Vlachopoulatika * Zenebissatika File:GaiosPaxiJuly192022 01.jpg, Gaios Port File:Paxos gaios square bgiu.jpg, Square of Gaios File:Mouseio Paxon.jpg, Museum of Paxos File:Paxos..jpg, Paxos Governor's house 1840 File:Paxoi - Nature pool.jpg, Paxi - Antipaxi coast File:Giorgos Anemogiannis 1821.jpg, Giorgos Anemogiannis monument 1821

References

External links

Paxos International Music FestivalThe Prefecture of Corfu official page
{{Authority control Populated places in Corfu (regional unit) Mediterranean port cities and towns in Greece Islands of the Ionian Islands (region) Islands of Greece Municipalities of the Ionian Islands (region) Provinces of Greece Septinsular Republic Phoenician colonies in Greece Landforms of Corfu (regional unit)