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
Ionian League Ionian League The Ionian League (ancient Greek: , "Íōnes"; , "koinón Iōnōn"; or , "koinē sýnodos Iōnōn"; Latin: "commune consilium"), also called the Panionic League, was a confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th century BC comprising twelve Ionian cities (a dodecapolis, of which there were many others). These were listed by Herodotus as After 650 BC Smyrna, an originally Aeolic city, was invited to diminish Aeolis and increase Ionia by joining the league, which it did. One of our earliest historical sources, the "Histories" of Herodotus, and early inscriptions refer to the legally constituted