Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands to south, including their Greek and Italian names in parentheses: Cythera and Lefkada were additionally called ' or ' and " respectively by the Ottomans. During the Roman Empire, the Ionian Islands were variously part of the provinces of Achaea and Epirus vetus. These would form, with the exception of Cythera, the Byzantine theme of Cephallenia in the late 8th century. From the late 11th century, the Ionian Islands became a battleground in the Byzantine–Norman Wars. The island of Corfu was held by the Normans in 1081–1085 and 1147–1149, while the Venetians unsuccessfully besieged it in 1122–1123. The island of
1953 Ionian earthquake were also several large earthquakes on January 26 and February 3, 2014, which were measured 6.1 and 6.0 on the Richter scale. The epicenters of both were in Kefalonia at very shallow depths and caused damage to the island. On October 25, 2018 there was a 6.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast that damaged parts of the Zante port dock. Following that quake, there were more than 50 additional quakes over 4 magnitiude in the Ionian Sea between the 25th and the end of October. 1953 Ionian earthquake The 1953 Ionian earthquake (also known as the Great Kefalonia earthquake) struck