SANTA MAURA or LEUCADIA (Aeviccioa, ancient A /7 one of the Ionian Islands (20 m. north to south, 5-8 m. east to west; area 110 sq.m.; population about 30,000), off the coast of Acarnania (Greece), S. of the entrance to the Gulf of Arta. It is a rugged mass of limestone and bituminous shales (partly Tertiary), rising to 2,000 and 3,00o ft. with limited areas of level ground. The grain crop suffices only for a few months' local consumption but much olive oil of good quality is produced. The vineyards (in the west especially) yield red wine (bought mainly by Rouen, Cette, Trieste and Venice) ; the currant, intro duced about 1859, has come to be the principal source of wealth (averaging 2,500,000 lb.) ; and cotton, flax, tobacco and valonia are grown. The salt trade, formerly of importance, has suffered from customs regulations. The chief town, Amaxichi (more usu ally Santa Maura, after the neighbouring fort), is at the north east end opposite the lagoon. In the south-west is the village of Vasiliki, whence the currant crop is exported.
Cyclopean and polygonal walls at Kaligoni (south of Amaxichi) probably mark the ancient acropolis of Neritus (or Nericus), and the later Corinthian settlement of Leucas. From this point a Roman bridge seems to have crossed to the mainland. Between the town and Fort Santa Maura extends a Turkish aqueduct partly destroyed with the town by the earthquake of 1825. Forts
Alexander and Constantine commanding the bridge are relics of the Russian occupation; the other forts are of Turko-Venetian origin. The magnificent cliff, 2,000 ft. high, at Cape Ducato at the S. end of the island, still bears the ruined temple of Apollo Leucatas (hence the modern name). At the annual festival of Apollo a criminal was obliged to plunge from the summit into the sea, where, however, an effort was made to pick him up; and it was by the same leap that Sappho and Artemisia, daughter of Lygdamis, are said to have ended their lives.
A theory has been proposed by Professor Dorpfeld that Leucas is the island described in the Odyssey under the name of Ithaca; arguing that the Homeric description of the island and its posi tion, and also the identification of such sites as the palace of Odysseus, the harbour of Phorcys, the grotto of the Nymphs and the island Asteris, where the suitors lay in wait for Telemachus, suit Leucas better than does the island called Ithaca (q.v.).
The shallow strait separating it from the mainland is liable to be silted. In 1903, however, a canal was completed 5o f t. broad and 17 ft. deep.
See CORFU ; also P. Goessler, Leukas-Ithaka (Stuttgart, 1904) ; W. Doerffeld, Alt-Ithaka, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1927).