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Zacynthus

Ζάκυνθος). Now Zanté; an island in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Elis, about forty miles in circumference. It contained a large and flourishing town of the same name upon the eastern coast, the citadel of which was called Psophis. Zacynthus was inhabited by a Greek population at an early period. It is said to have derived its name from Zacynthus, a son of Dardanus, who colonized the island from Psophis in Arcadia. It was afterwards colonized by Achaeans from Peloponnesus. It formed part of the maritime empire of Athens, and continued faithful to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War. At a later time it was subject to the Macedonian monarchs, and on the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans passed into the hands of the latter (Livy, xxxvi. 32). It was said to have colonized the Spanish city of Saguntum (q.v.). See Partsch, Die Insel Zante (Gotha, 1891).

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