Syracuse, in its extremity, asked help from the mother-city, Corinth; and now appears on the scene one of the noblest figures in Greek history, Timoleon.
It became a place of some importance in Roman days, especially as a port, and entirely outstripped its mother city.
It was founded by Syracuse in 599 B.e., but destroyed by the mother city in S52 for attempting to assert its independence.
The splendid commercial position of Corcyra on the highway between Greece and the West favoured its rapid growth, and, influenced p erhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city.
In the days of Tyre's greatness her power rested directly on the colonies, which, unlike those of Greece, remained subject to the mother-city, and paid tithes of their revenues to its chief god, Melqarth, and sent envoys annually to his feast.