colony · Greece and the Aegean

Venetian Modon and Coron

1207 CE – 1500 CE · capital Modon

Twin Venetian fortress ports at the south-western tip of the Peloponnese, known as the eyes of the Republic, which guarded Venice's route to the Levant for three centuries.

Origins

Venice claimed the south-western Peloponnese in the partition of the Byzantine Empire after 1204. Venetian forces occupied Modon (Methoni) and Coron (Koroni) around 1207, and the Treaty of Sapienza with Geoffrey I of Villehardouin of the Principality of Achaea confirmed them in 1209.

Rule and society

The two ports were governed by Venetian castellans and officials appointed from Venice, and served as stopovers for merchant galleys and pilgrim ships bound for the Holy Land and the eastern Mediterranean. Their surroundings produced wine, silk and food for the fleets, and they gathered news about the Aegean, hence their nickname. Greek, Jewish and Albanian communities lived under Venetian rule.

Decline and legacy

In 1500, during the Ottoman-Venetian war, Sultan Bayezid II stormed Modon after a long siege, and Coron surrendered soon after. Venice briefly regained them in 1686-1715 as part of the Venetian Morea. The fortress of Methoni still stands.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Venetian Modon and Coron. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/venetian-modon-and-coron
MLA
“Venetian Modon and Coron.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/venetian-modon-and-coron. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Venetian Modon and Coron.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/venetian-modon-and-coron.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Venetian Modon and Coron’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/venetian-modon-and-coron (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻