Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Νεώτερη και Σύγχρονη Ελληνική ΙστορίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Supervisors info:
Παπαδία-Λάλα Αναστασία, Καθηγήτρια Ιστορίας Νέου Ελληνισµού, τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ευθυμίου Μαρία, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Ιστορίας Νέου Ελληνισµού, τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντινίδου Κατερίνα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Ιστορίας Νέου Ελληνισµού, τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
«Οι εβραϊκές κοινότητες στα Ιόνια Νησιά κατά την περίοδο της βενετοκρατίας (13ος-18ος αι.). Σχέσεις συμβίωσης, εντάσεις και αποκλεισμοί.»
Translated title:
“The jewish communities in the ionian islands during the venetian domination (13th-18th c.). Cohabitations, tensions and exclusions”
Summary:
The present study deals with the Jewish communities in the Ionian Islands during the Venetian domination (13th-18th centuries). Due to the relative sufficiency of evidence, particular emphasis is given to Corfu and Zakynthos during the centuries of long Venetian domination, in the basin of the Eastern Mediterranean. It is investigated the way the Jews correlated with the dominant Catholic Venetians and the predominant Orthodox Christians, residents of the Ionian Islands of the Venetian State of the Sea (Stato da mar).
It is argued that the complex political, social and economic environment of the Ionian Islands allowed and encouraged Jews to invest in the institutions of the local community. Their investments resulted in continuous and substantial interactions with the Venetians and the local population, but created tensions and exclusions for them as well. The tensions were seemingly religious but rather economic in nature. The Jews were excluded by both the upper Venetian administration and the local administration of Corfu and Zakynthos. Specifically, the Jews were excluded by the local closed, aristocratic, community councils of the two islands and they were blocked from the administration of the entire European Christendom. This argument is tackled in this study, as suggested by the subtitle: Cohabitations, tensions and exclusions.
This bibliographic research highlights that in Corfu the Jews enjoyed more privileges than the Jews who lived in other parts of the Venetian territory, or even anywhere else during medieval and modern times. It is also worth noting that in both Corfu and Zakynthos islands there was no enclosed Ghetto,in the strict sense of the term and especially in the case of Corfu, it is argued that the local Ghetto deviated from the Venetian model.
In general, the basic conclusion is that, despite centuries of proximity to Christians, who maintained a sometimes tolerant and other times hostile attitude towards the Jews, and their multiple impact on the demographic image and the social, economic and intellectual life of the Ionians Islanders, due to their “otherness” the Jews were living on the sidelines of the societies of Corfu and Zakynthos. Therefore, it is suggested that there were no equal and tolerant relations in these islands which was the case for other territories in the Venetian State of the Sea as well.
Main subject category:
History
Keywords:
Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Judaism, Jewish communities, expulsions, Venice, Venice's Hellenic territories, Stato da mar, Ionian Islands, Corfu, Zakynthos, Ghetto, Jewish occupations, otherness, Ottoman Empire, prostichi, Venetian’s State fall.
Number of references:
695
