{{Short description|French department in the Ionian Islands (1797-1802); today part of Greece}} {{Infobox former country |native_name = <small>''Département d'Ithaque''</small> |conventional_long_name = Department of Ithaque |common_name = Ithaque |year_start = 1797 |year_end = 1798 |flag = |image_flag = |image_map = SeptinsularRepublic1801.jpg |image_map_caption = The three departments of Greece

|languages = [[French language|French]] <small>(administrative)</small> |common_languages = [[Greek language|Greek]] |status = [[Departments of France|Department]] of the [[French First Republic]]

|admin_center_type = [[Prefectures in France|Chef-lieu]] |admin_center = [[Argostoli]]<br />{{coord|38.17|20.49|display=inline}}

|government_type = |leader_title1 = Commissioner |leader_name1 = Pierre-Pomponne-Amédée Pocholle

|era = French Revolutionary Wars |event_pre = [[Treaty of Campo Formio]] |date_pre = 17 October 1797 |event_start = Establishment |date_start = 7 November |date_end = 29 October |event_end = Fall of Cephalonia |date_post = 25 March 1802 |event_post = [[Treaty of Amiens|Official disbandment]]

|p1 = Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands |flag_p1 = Flag_of_the_Republic_of_Venice.svg |s1 = Septinsular Republic |flag_s1 = Flag_of_the_Septinsular_Republic.svg |s2 = Pashalik of Yanina |flag_s2 = Flag of the Ottoman Empire.svg |today = [[Greece]] }}

'''Ithaque''' ({{IPA|fr|i.tak|lang}}; [[French language|French]] for "[[Ithaca (island)|Ithaca]]") was one of three short-lived [[French departments of Greece]].

==History== It came into existence after [[Napoleon]]'s [[Fall of the Republic of Venice|conquest]] in 1797 of the [[Republic of Venice]], when Venetian Greek possessions such as the [[Ionian Islands]] fell to the [[French Directory]]. It included the islands of [[Ithaca (island)|Ithaca]], [[Cephalonia]] and [[Lefkada]], as well as the cities of [[Preveza]], [[Arta, Greece|Arta]] and [[Vonitsa]] on the adjacent mainland. Its prefecture was at [[Argostoli]] on Cephalonia. The islands were lost to [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in 1798 and the department was officially disbanded in 1802. Also Preveza, Arta and Vonitsa were [[Battle of Nicopolis (1798)|captured in 1798]] by [[Ali Pasha of Ioannina|Ali Pasha]], ruler of the [[Pashalik of Yanina]].

During the [[French rule in the Ionian Islands (1807–1814)|renewed French control of the area in 1807–1809]], the department was not re-established, the constitutional form of the [[Septinsular Republic]] being kept.

==Administration== ===Commissioner=== The Commissioner of the Directory was the highest state representative in the department. {| class="wikitable" style="width: 70%;" ! align="left" |Term start ! align="left" |Term end ! align="left" |Office holder

|- valign="top" |18 October 1797<ref>{{cite book |last=Bellaire |first=J.P. |title=Précis des opérations générales de la division française du Levant|publisher=Magimel & Humbert|date=1805 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NQtCAAAAcAAJ/page/n354 10] |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NQtCAAAAcAAJ|quote=département d'ithaque. }}</ref>||3 March 1799||'''Pierre-Pomponne-Amédée Pocholle''' |}

==See also== * [[Mer-Égée|Department of Mer-Égée]] * [[Corcyre|Department of Corcyre]] * [[French rule in the Ionian Islands (1797–1799)]] * [[Treaty of Campo Formio]]

== References == {{Reflist}} * {{cite book |title=Les Îles de la Grèce |last=Lacroix |first=Louis |year=1853 |publisher=Firmin Didot |page=638 |language=French|trans-title=The Islands of Greece}} * {{cite book |title=Les Îles Ioniennes pendant l'occupation française et le protectorat anglais|last=Pauthier|first=G.|year=1863 |publisher=Benjamin Duprat|location=Paris|language=French|trans-title=The Ionian Islands during the French occupation and the British protectorate}}

{{Annexed departments of the French First Republic}} {{Authority control}}

[[Category:Former departments of France in Greece]] [[Category:States and territories established in 1797]] [[Category:History of Cephalonia]] [[Category:Ithaca]] [[Category:Lefkada]] [[Category:1797 establishments in France]] [[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1798]]