CEPHALONIA, sef-a-leni-a, or KE PHALLENIA, an island of Greece, the largest of the Ionian Islands, northwest of the Morea, at the entrance of the Gulf of Patras, about 31 miles in length and from 5 to 12 in breadth; area, about 266 square miles; between lat. 38° and 38° 31' N. and tong. 20° 21' and 20° 49' E. The coastline is very irregular and deeply marked with indentations, and the surface is rugged and mountainous; rising in Moil ta Negro, the ancient /Enos, to a height of 5,380 feet. There is rather a deficiency of- water on the island. The principal towns are Argostoli, the capital, and Lixim. The chief exports are_cur rants, oil and grain; wine, cheese, etc., are also exported. The manufactures are inconsider able., consisting of some cottons, carpets of Airced wool and goats'-hair, with some potteries and distilleries of liqueurs. The island is sub ject to frequent earthquakes. One of the most .destructive was that of the year 1867. The greater part of the population are of the Greek Church; the others belong to the Catholic Church. By Homer the island was called Same
or Samos, though he speaks of the inhabitants as Cephallenes. The island adhered to Athens during the Peloponnesian War. In 189 a.c. it came under the Roman dominion and after the division of the empire it became subject to the Byzantines. In the 12th century it was taken by the Normans, and afterward fell successively into the hands of the Venetians and Turks, and then again into the hands of the Venetians, who retained possession of it until 1797, when the French seized it. From 1815 it belonged to the republic of the United Ionian Islands, and in 1864 was united with the other islands to the kingdom of Greece. With Ithaca and a few other adjacent islands it forms a nomos or province of the kingdom of Greece. Pop. of nomos 83,363; of the island about 72,000.