Coordinates: 37°54′19″N 22°52′49″E / 37.9053455°N 22.8801924°E / 37.9053455; 22.8801924

Corinth Κόρινθος
← 700 BC–200 BC →
The Theban hegemony; power-blocks in Greece in the decade up to 362 BC.
Capital	Corinth
Language(s)	Doric Greek
Religion	Polytheism
Government	Oligarchy
Historical era	Classical Antiquity
- Founding	700 BC 700 BC
- Cypselus	657–627 BC
- Dissolution	200 BC

Corinth, or Korinth (Greek: Κόρινθος, Kórinthos) was a city-state (polis) on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern town of Corinth is located approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the ancient ruins. Since 1896, systematic archaeological investigations of the Corinth Excavations by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have revealed large parts of the ancient city, and recent excavations conducted by the Greek Ministry of Culture have brought important new facets of antiquity to light.

History[link]

Prehistory and founding myths[link]

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Neolithic pottery suggests that the site of Corinth was occupied from at least as early as 6500BC, and continually occupied into the Early Bronze Age ^[1], when, it has been suggested, the settlement acted as a centre of trade ^[2] However, there is a dramatic drop in ceramic remains during the Early Helladic II phase, and only sparse ceramic remains in the EHIII and MH phases; thus it appears that the area was very sparsely inhabited in the period immediately before the Myceanaean period. While pottery dating to the Mycenaean period is negligable at the site of Corinth, there was a settlement on the coast near Lechaion which traded across the Corinthian Gulf; the site of Corinth itself was likely not heavily occupied again until around 900BC, when it is believed the Dorians settled there^[3].

According to Hellenic myth, the city was founded by Corinthos, a descendant of the god Helios (the Sun), while other myths suggest that it was founded by the goddess Ephyra, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, thus the ancient name of the city (also Ephyra). There is evidence that the city was destroyed around 2000 BC.^{[citation needed]}

Some ancient names for the place, such as Korinthos, derive from a pre-Greek, "Pelasgian" language; it seems likely that Corinth was also the site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city, like Mycenae, Tiryns or Pylos. According to myth, Sisyphus was the founder of a race of ancient kings at Corinth. It was also in Corinth that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, abandoned Medea. During the Trojan War, the Corinthians participated under the leadership of Agamemnon.^{[citation needed]}

In a Corinthian myth related in the 2nd century AD to Pausanias,^[4] Briareus, one of the Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between Poseidon and Helios, between the sea and the sun: his verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth belonged to Poseidon and the acropolis of Corinth, Acrocorinth, to Helios. Thus Greeks of the Classical age accounted for archaic cult of the sun-titan in the highest part of the site.^{[citation needed]}

The Upper Peirene spring is located within the walls of the acropolis. "The spring, which is behind the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus." (Pausanias, 2.5.1).^{[citation needed]}

Corinth under the Bacchiadae[link]

Corinth had been a backwater in 8th-century Greece.^[5] The Bacchiadae (Ancient Greek: Βακχιάδαι Bakkhiadai), a tightly-knit Doric clan, were the ruling kinship group of archaic Corinth in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a period of expanding Corinthian cultural power. In 747 BC (a traditional date) an aristocratic revolution ousted the Bacchiad kings, when the royal clan of Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males took power from the last king, Telestes.^[6] They dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by electing annually a prytanis who held the kingly position^[7] for his brief term,^[8] no doubt a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials) and a polemarchos to head the army.

During Bacchiad rule, from 747 to 650 BC, Corinth became a unified state. Large scale public buildings/monuments were constructed at this time. In 733 BC, Corinth established colonies at Corcyra and Syracuse. By 730 BC, Corinth emerged as a highly advanced Greek city.

Aristotle tells the story of Philolaus of Corinth, a Bacchiad who was a lawgiver at Thebes. He became the lover of Diocles, the winner of the Olympic games. They both lived for the rest of their lives in Thebes. Their tombs were built near one another and Philolaus' tomb points toward the Corinthian country while Diocles' faces away.^[9]

Cypselus obtained an oracle from Delphi. He interpreted it to mean that he should take over Corinth.^[10]

In 657 BC the Bacchiadae were expelled in turn by the tyrant Cypselus,^[11] who had been polemarch. The exiled Bacchiadae fled.

Corinth under the tyrants[link]

Cypselus or Kypselos (Greek: Κύψελος) was the first tyrant of Corinth, Greece, in the 7th century BC. From 658–628 BC, Cypselus removed the Bacchiad aristocracy from power and ruled for three decades. He built temples to Apollo and Poseidon in 650 BC.

Aristotle reports that "Cypselus of Corinth had made a vow that if he became master of the city, he would offer to Zeus the entire property of the Corinthians. Accordingly, he commanded them to make a return of their possessions."^[12]

In the 7th century BC, when Corinth was ruled by the tyrants Cypselus (r. 657–627 BC) and his son Periander (r. 627–585 BC), the city sent forth colonists to found new settlements: Epidamnus (modern day Durrës, Albania), Syracuse, Ambracia (modern day town of Lefkas), Corcyra (modern day town of Corfu) and Anactorium. Periander also founded Apollonia in Illyria (modern day Fier, Albania) and Potidaea (in Chalcidice). Corinth was also one of the nine Greek sponsor-cities to found the colony of Naukratis in Ancient Egypt. Naucratis was founded to accommodate the increasing trade volume between the Greek world and pharaonic Egypt, during the reign of Pharaoh Psammetichus I of the 26th dynasty.

With increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures, Greek city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings; Corinth, the richest archaic polis, led the way.^[13] Like the signori of late medieval and Renaissance Italy, the tyrants usually seized power at the head of some popular support. Often the tyrants upheld existing laws and customs and were highly conservative as to cult practices, thus maintaining stability with little risk to their own personal security. As in Renaissance Italy, a cult of personality naturally substituted for the divine right of the former legitimate royal house.

Cypselus, the son of Eëtion and a disfigured woman named Labda, who was a member of the Bacchiad kin usurped the power in archaic matriarchal right of his mother, became tyrant and expelled the Bacchiadae.

Temple of Apollo, Ancient Corinth.

Periander (Περίανδρος) (r.627–585 BC).

According to Herodotus the Bacchiadae heard two prophecies from the Delphic oracle that the son of Eëtion would overthrow their dynasty, and they planned to kill the baby once it was born. However, Herodotus says that the newborn smiled at each of the men sent to kill it, and none of them could go through with the plan. An etiological myth-element, to account for the name Cypselus (cypsele, "chest") accounted how Labda then hid the baby in a chest, and when the men had composed themselves and returned to kill it, they could not find it. (Compare the infancy of Perseus.) The ivory chest of Cypselus, richly worked with mythological narratives and adorned with gold, was a votive offering at Olympia, where Pausanias gave it a minute description in his 2nd century AD travel guide.^[14]

When Cypselus had grown up, he fulfilled the prophecy. Corinth had been involved in wars with Argos and Corcyra, and the Corinthians were unhappy with their rulers. At the time, around 657 BC, Cypselus was polemarch, the archon in charge of the military, and he used his influence with the soldiery to expel the king. He also expelled his other enemies, but allowed them to set up colonies in northwestern Greece. He also increased trade with the colonies in Italy and Sicily. He was a popular ruler, and unlike many later tyrants, he did not need a bodyguard and died a natural death.

He ruled for thirty years and was succeeded as tyrant by his son Periander in 627 BC.^[15] The treasury Cypselus built at Delphi was apparently still standing in the time of Herodotus, and the chest of Cypselus was seen by the traveler Pausanias at Olympia in the 2nd century AD. Periander brought Corcyra to order in 600 BC.

Periander was considered one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. During his reign the first Corinthian coins were struck. He was the first to attempt to cut across the Isthmus to create a seaway to allow ship traffic between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulf. He abandoned the venture due to the extreme technical difficulties he met, but he created the Diolkos (a stone-build overland ramp) instead. The era of the Cypselids, ending with Periander's nephew Psammetichus, named after the hellenophile Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus I (see above), was the golden age of the city of Corinth.

Periander killed his wife Melissa. His son found out and refused to talk to him. Periander sent his son away to Corcyra.^[16] Periander later wanted his son Lycopron to replace him as sovereign of Corinth. His son was finally convinced to come home on the condition that Periander go to Corcyra while he goes back to Corinth. The Corcyreans heard about this and killed Lycophron in order to keep Periander out of their country.^[17]

During the 7th century BC, when Corinth was ruled by the tyrants, the city sent forth colonists to found new settlements: Epidamnus (modern day Durrës, Albania), Syracuse, Ambracia (modern day town of Lefkas), Corcyra (modern day town of Corfu) and Anactorium. Periander also founded Apollonia in Illyria (modern day Fier, Albania) and Potidaea (in Chalcidice). Corinth was also one of the nine Greek sponsor-cities to found the colony of Naukratis in Ancient Egypt. Naucratis was founded to accommodate the increasing trade volume between the Greek world and the pharaohnic Egypt, during the reign of Pharaoh Psammetichus I of the 26th dynasty.

Just before the beginning of the classical period, the trireme was developed here. This ship design would become widespread in the navies of the Mediterranean area until the late Roman period. Corinth took part in the first naval battle on record, against the Hellenic city of Corcyra. ^[18]

Herodotus relates that the harpist Arion was sailing home on a Corinthian vessel when the Corinthians decide to kill him and steal his money. Arion begs them to let him sing a last song and then he will kill himself. He threw himself overboard and escaped to Taernarus on the back of a dolphin. He presents himself to Periander and the sailors are found to be guilty.^[19]

Archaic Corinth after the Tyrants[link]

In 581 BC, Periander's nephew, who succeeded Periander, was assassinated. This brought Corinth's dictatorship to come to an end.

In 581 BC the Isthmian Games established by leading families.

In 570 BC, the inhabitants started to use silver coins called 'colts' or 'foals.'

In 550 BC, Corinth became the ally of Sparta.

In 525 BC, Corinth formed a conciliatory alliance with Sparta against Argos.

In 519 BC, Corinth mediated between Athens and Thebes.

Around 500 BC, Athenians and Corinthians entreat Spartans not to harm Athens by restoring the tyrant.^[20]

Just before the beginning of the classical period, the Corinthians developed the trireme. This ship design would become widespread in the navies of the Mediterranean area until the late Roman period. Corinth took part in the first naval battle on record, against the Hellenic city of Corcyra.^[18] According to Thucydides, Corinth was the first place in Hellas to build triremes. The Corinthians were also known for their wealth because of its location on the isthmus. All information to and from the Peloponnese traveled through Corinth, because many travelers came through delivering messages and goods.^[21]

Classical Corinth[link]

Corinthian stater.Obverse:Pegasus with Koppa () (or Qoppa) beneath. Reverse:Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Koppa symbolised the archaic writing of the city (Ϙόρινθος).

Statues in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

Corinthian order columns in ancient Corinth.

In classical times, Corinth rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth, based on the Isthmian traffic and trade. Until the mid-6th century Corinth was a major exporter of black-figure pottery to city-states around the Greek world. Athenian potters later came to dominate the market. It was once believed that Corinth housed a great temple on its ancient acropolis dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite; yet excavations of the temples of Aphrodite in Corinth reveal them to be small in stature.^[22] Despite the mythical story from Strabo of there being more than one thousand temple prostitutes employed at the Temple of Aphrodite, this was likely not accurate as the story rests on a misunderstanding.^[22] Corinth was also the host of the Isthmian Games.

During this era Corinthians developed the Corinthian order, the third order of the classical architecture after the Ionic and the Doric. The Corinthian order was the most complicated of the three, showing the accumulation of wealth and the luxurious lifestyle in the ancient city-state, while the Doric order was analogous to the strict and simplistic lifestyle of the older Dorians like the Spartans, and the Ionic was a balance between those two following the philosophy of harmony of Ionians like the Athenians.

Horace is quoted as saying: "non licet omnibus adire Corinthum", which translates as "Not everyone is able to go to Corinth",^[23] due to the expensive living standards that prevailed in the city. The city was renowned for the temple prostitutes of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who served the wealthy merchants and the powerful officials living in or traveling in and out of the city. The most famous of them, Lais, was said to have extraordinary abilities and charged tremendous fees for her favours.

The city had two main ports, one in the Corinthian Gulf and one in the Saronic Gulf, serving the trade routes of the western and eastern Mediterranean, respectively. In the Corinthian Gulf lay Lechaion, which connected the city to its western colonies (Greek: apoikoiai) and Magna Graecia, while in the Saronic Gulf the port of Kenchreai served the ships coming from Athens, Ionia, Cyprus and the rest of the Levant. Both ports had docks for the large war fleet of the city-state.

Street in ancient Corinth.

In 491 BC, Corinth mediated between Syracuse and Gala.

During the years 481–480 BC, the Conference at Isthmus of Corinth (previous conference had been at Sparta) established the Hellenic League, which allied under the Spartans in the Greco-Persian Wars against Persia. The city was a major participant in the Persian Wars, sending 400 soldiers to try to defend the Thermopylae^[24] and offering forty war ships in the sea Battle of Salamis under the admiral Adeimantos and 5,000 hoplites (wearing their characteristic Corinthian helmets^{[citation needed]}) in the following Battle of Plataea but afterwards was frequently an enemy of Athens and an ally of Sparta in the Peloponnesian League. The Greeks demanded the surrender of Thebans who had aided the Persians. Pausanias took them to Corinth where they were put to death.^[25]

Corinthian order.

Herodotus, who was believed to dislike the Corinthians, mentions that Corinthians were considered the second best fighters to the Athenians.^[26]

In 458 BC, Corinth was defeated by Athens at Megara.

The Peloponnesian War[link]

In 435 BC, Corinth and Corcyra went to war over Epidamnus.^{[27][clarification needed]} In 433 BC, Athens allied with Corcyra against Corinth.^{[28][clarification needed]} The Corinthian war against the Corcycraeans was the first recorded naval war in history^{[citation needed]}. In 431 BC, one of the factors leading to the Peloponnesian War was the dispute between Corinth and Athens over the Corinthian colony of Corcyra (Corfu), which probably stemmed from the traditional trade rivalry between the two cities.

Three Syracusan generals went to Corinth and Lacedaemon to acquire allies for the Sicilian War.^[29]

With the Syracusan troops in Athens, Ariston, a Corinithinan helmsman had the idea to move the market down to the sea which would allow the commanders to have a full meal, and then attack the Athenians while they were least expecting it. A messenger was sent to the market and the plan was carried through. The Athenians, expecting the Syracusan troops to be busy at the market, went upon their daily tasks, unprepared for battle. Suddenly the Athenians realized the Syracrusan troops were waging battle upon them so they scrambled to meet the Syracusans at the sea for battle. In the end, the Syracusan troops claimed victory and the Athenians retreated.^[30]

In 404 BC, Sparta refused to destroy Athens. This refusal caused bad relations with Corinth. Corinth joined Argos, Boetia, and Athens against Sparta in the Corinthian War.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

To convince his countrymen to behave objectively, Demosthenes noted that the Athenians of yesteryear had had good reason to bear malice against the Corinthians and the Thebans for their conduct during the last part of the Peloponnesian War;^[31] but they bore no malice whatever.^[32]

The Corinthian War[link]

After the end of the Peloponnesian War, Corinth and Thebes, which were former allies with Sparta in the Peloponnesian League, had grown dissatisfied with the hegemony of Sparta and started the Corinthian War against it, which further weakened the city-states of the Peloponnese. This weakness allowed for the subsequent invasion of the Macedonians of the north and the forging of the Corinthian League by Philip II of Macedon against the Persian Empire.

The Corinthians "voted at once to aid them [the Syracusans] heart and soul themselves". They also sent a group to Lacedaemon where they found Alcibiades. From there the Syracusans, Corinthians and Alcibiades convinced the Lacedaemonians to join their forces. After a convincing speech from Alcibiades, the Lacedaemonians agreed to send troops to aid the Sicilians.^[33]

Isocrates wrote of the formation of the anti-Spartan alliance made in 395 BC in Corinth.^[34]

Xenophon chronicled a detailed description of the events of the Corinthian war which started in 395 BC.^[35]

As an example of facing danger with knowledge, Aristotle used the example of the Argives who were forced to confront the Spartans in the battle at the Long Walls of Corinth in 392 BC.^[36]

379-323BC[link]

In 379 BC, Corinth and as part of the Peloponnesian League joins Sparta in an attempt to defeat Thebes and eventually take over Athens.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

In 366 BC, the Athenian Assembly ordered Chares to occupy the Athenian ally and install a democratic government. This failed when Corinth, Phlius and Epidaurus allied with Boeotia backing Corinth up in the swar.

Regarding Corinthian exiles, Demosthenes recounted information he heard from elders who we can assume had been alive during the event in question. Athens had fought the Lacedaemonians in a great battle near Corinth. The city decided not to harbor the defeated Athenian troops, but instead sent heralds to the Lacedaemonians.^[37]

The Corinthian heralds opened their gates to the defeated Athenian army and refused to betray them to the victorious Lacedaemonian army. Demosthenes notes that they “chose along with you, who had been engaged in battle, to suffer whatever might betide, rather than without you to enjoy a safety that involved no danger.” These actions saved the Athenian troops and their allies.^[38]

Demosthenes acknowledged that Philip’s military force exceeded that of Athens and thus they must develop a tactical advantage. He notes the importance of a citizen army as opposed to one made up of mercenary soldiers, citing a previous mercenary force in Corinth. In this particular force, citizens fought alongside mercenaries and beat the Lacedaemonians.^[39]

In 338 BC, after having defeated Athens and its allies, Philip II created the League of Corinth to unite the Greeks, including Corinth, in a war with Persia. Philip was named hegemon of the League.

In 337 BC, in the spring, the Second congress of Corinth established Common Peace.

Hellenistic period[link]

By 332 BC, Alexander the Great was in control of Greece, as hegemon.

During the Hellenistic period, Corinth, like many other Greece cities, never quite had autonomy. Under the successors of Alexander the Great, Greece was contested ground, and Corinth was occasionally the battleground for contests between the Antigonids, based in Macedonia, and other Hellenistic powers. In 308BC, the city was captured from the Antigonids by Ptolemy I, which he claimed was part of his plan to free Greece from the Antigonids. The city was recaptured by Demetrius in 304BC, however^[40]. Corinth remained in Antigonid control for half a century, before the Achaean League attacked and successfully took the city in 249BC. However, Corinth did not remain in Achaean control for long, as it was retaken by Antigonus II Gonatas in about 244BC, before being permanently brought into the Achaean League in 243BC^[41].

Roman era[link]

The ancient Roman fountain.

Ancient Roman statue in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

In 146BC, Rome declared war on the Achaean League, and after victories over league forces in the summer of that year, the Romans under Lucius Mummius besieged Corinth, in an action known as the battle; when he entered the city Mummius put all the men to the sword and sold the women and children into slavery before he torched the city, for which he was given the cognomen Achaicus as the conqueror of the Achaean League.^[42] While there is archeological evidence of some minimal habitation in the years afterwards, Julius Caesar refounded the city as Colonia laus Iulia Corinthiensis in 44 BC shortly before his assassination.

Biblical Corinth[link]

Corinth is mentioned many times in the New Testament, largely in connection with Paul the apostle's mission there.

Under the Romans, Corinth was rebuilt as a major city in Southern Greece or Achaia. It had a large mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews.

When the apostle Paul first visited the city (AD 51 or 52), Gallio, the brother of Seneca, was proconsul. Paul resided here for eighteen months (see Acts 18:1–18). Here he first became acquainted with Priscilla and Aquila with whom he worked and travelled.

Paul wrote two of his epistles to the Christian community at Corinth, the First Epistle to the Corinthians and the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The first Epistle occasionally reflects the conflict between the thriving Christian church and the surrounding community.

Some scholars believe that Paul visited Corinth for a brief intermediate "painful visit" (see 2Corinthians 2:1), between the first and second epistles. After writing the second epistle he stayed in Corinth for about three months^[Acts 20:3] in the late winter, and there wrote his Epistle to the Romans.^[43]

Based on clues within the Corinthian epistles themselves some scholars have concluded that Paul wrote possibly as many as four epistles to the church at Corinth.^[44] Only two of them, the First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians, are contained within the Canon of Holy Scripture. An apocryphal Third Epistle to the Corinthians was rejected from the canon.

Byzantine era[link]

The walled gates of Acrocorinth.

The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 375 and again in 551. During Alaric's invasion of Greece, in 395–396, Corinth was one of the cities he despoiled, selling many of its citizens into slavery.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian I, a large stone wall was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulf, protecting the city and the Peloponnesean peninsula from the barbarian invasions of the north. The stone wall was about six miles (10 km) long and was named Examilion (meaning six miles: exi=six in Greek). During this era Corinth was the seat of the Thema of Hellas (representing modern day Greece).

In November 856, an earthquake in Corinth killed an estimated 45,000.^{[citation needed]}

In the 12th century (during the reign of the Comnenus dynasty), the wealth of the city, generated from the silk trade to the Latin states of western Europe, attracted the attention of the Sicilian Normans under Roger of Sicily, who plundered it in 1147.

Principality of Achaea[link]

In 1204, Geoffrey I de Villehardouin, nephew of the homonymous famous historian of the Fourth Crusade, was granted Corinth after the sack of Constantinople, with the title of Prince of Achaea. From 1205–1208 the Corinthians resisted the Frankish domination from their stronghold in Acrocorinth, under the command of the Greek general Leo Sgouros. The French knight William of Champlitte led the crusader forces. In 1208 Leo Sgouros killed himself by riding off the top of Acrocorinth, but from 1208 to 1210 the Corinthians continued to resist the enemy forces. After the collapse of the resistance and for the years to come, Corinth became a full part of the Principality of Achaea, governed by the Villehardouins from their capital in Andravida of Elis. Corinth was the last significant town of Achaea on its northern borders with another crusader state, the Duchy of Athens. The Byzantines reconquered the city and it became part of the despotate of Morea in 1388. The Ottomans captured it in 1395. The Byzantines captured it again in 1403. Theodore II Palaiologos, who was Despot of Morea, restored the Hexamilion wall across the Isthmus of Corinth in 1415.

Ottoman Rule[link]

In 1458, five years after the final Fall of Constantinople, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire conquered the city and its mighty castle. The Ottomans renamed it Gördes. It became the Sanjak centre of Morea in Rumelia Province. The Venetians captured it in 1687 and it fell under the control of the Republic of Venice according to Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Ottomans retook the city in 1715. It was the capital of Mora Province between 1715–1731 and the Sanjak centre between 1731–1821.

Independence[link]

During the Greek War of Independence, 1821–1830 the city was destroyed by the Turkish forces.^{[citation needed]} The city was officially liberated in 1832 after the Treaty of London. In 1833, the site was considered among the candidates for the new capital city of the recently founded Kingdom of Greece, due to its historical significance and strategic position. Athens, then an insignificant town, was chosen instead.

Modern Corinth[link]

In 1858, the village surrounding the ruins of Ancient Corinth was totally destroyed by an earthquake, leading to the establishment of New Corinth 3 km (1.9 mi) NE of the ancient city.

The ancient city and its environs[link]

Acrocorinth, the acropolis[link]

The walled gates of Acrocorinth.

Acrocorinthis, the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock that was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century. The city's archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the Thema of Hellas. Later it was a fortress of the Franks after the Fourth Crusade, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks. With its secure water supply, Acrocorinth's fortress was used as the last line of defense in southern Greece because it commanded the isthmus of Corinth, repelling foes from entry into the Peloponnesian peninsula. Three circuit walls formed the man-made defense of the hill. The highest peak on the site was home to a temple to Aphrodite which was Christianized as a church, and then became a mosque. The American School began excavations on it in 1929. Currently, Acrocorinth is one of the most important medieval castle sites of Greece.

The city[link]

The two ports: Lechaeum and Cenchreae[link]

Corinth had two harbours: Lechaeum on the Corinthian Gulf and Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf. Lechaeum was the principal port, connected to the city with a set of long walls of about 2 miles (3.2 km) length, and was the main trading station for Italy and Sicily, where there were many Corinthian colonies, while Cenchreae served the commerce with the Eastern Mediterranean. Ships could be transported between the two harbours by means of the diolkos constructed by the tyrant Periander.

Problems in the History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

A problem faced by historians in the study of Corinth is the lack of written material regarding social life and economy. The writing that is available is either not interested in discussing the economy at all or is irritatingly vague. Historians have turned to archaeological evidence in order to answer questions about these institutions of Corinthian culture. While archaeological evidence is highly useful and informative, it is also speculative and subject to error in interpretation.

Furthermore, natural disasters such as earthquakes and destruction by the Romans under Lucius Mummius in 146 BC almost completely obliterated the Corinth of the Ancient Greeks. Subsequently, the entire city was rebuilt. The current remains of Corinth may reflect a city that was much different from what the Ancient Greeks – or even the Roman invaders – would have seen.

Much of the archaeological evidence can be interpreted using cross cultural comparison to sites with similar evidence and much more detailed histories. They can also compare evidence to cultural phenomena in the present in order to make more exact interpretations. Historians are able to use this evidence in combination with the primary sources they have such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, etc. in order to piece together the history of an ancient culture such as that found in Corinth.

Another problem historians face in the study of not only Corinth but the Ancient World in general, is establishing the border between myth and historical events. Many ancient historians were also entertainers and were concerned with their number of viewers and listeners. It is thought that they would pad out a story to make it more enjoyable if the true history was not interesting enough. As stories were transmitted, different parts of those stories were changed, possibly giving rise to a story that is totally different from the original account. Although such corrupted stories do not tell us exact history, they can provide insight into the culture and concerns of former times.

Notable people[link]

Ancient[link]

• Archias (8th century BC), founder of Syracuse.
• Dinarchus (4th century BC), orator and logographer.
• Diogenes of Sinope, 4th century BC, one of the world's best known cynics.
• Eumelus (8th century BC), poet.
• Euphranor (4th century BC), sculptor and painter.
• Periander (7th century BC), listed as one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
• Xeniades (5th century BC), philosopher.

See also[link]

• Corinthian bronze
• Temple of Isthmia

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ancient Corinth

Wikisource has the text of the 1879 American Cyclopædia article Corinth.

• Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Fortress of Acrocorinth
• Excavations at Ancient Corinth (American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
• Online database of the Corinth Excavations (American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
• History timeline

Further reading[link]

• Results of the American School of Classical Studies Corinth Excavations published in Corinth Volumes I to XX, Princeton.
• Excavation reports and articles in Hesperia (journal), Princeton.
• Partial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
• Salmon, J. B. Wealthy Corinth : a history of the city to 338 BC. Oxford: Clarendon press, 1997.
• Will, E. Korinthiaka. Recherches sur l'histoire et la civilisation de Corinthe des origines aux guerres médiques. Paris : de Boccard, 1955.
• "Adkins, Lesley and Roy A. Adkins. Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece New York: Facts on File. 1997."
• Alcock, Susan E. and Robin Osborne (ed.s). Classical Archaeology Malden: Blackwell Publishing. 2007.
• "Del Chiaro, Mario A (ed). Corinthiaca: Studies in Honor of Darrell A. Amyx. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 1986."
• "Grant, Michael. The Rise of the Greeks. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 1987."
• "Hammond, A History of Greece. Oxford University Press. 1967. "History of Greece, including Corinth from "the early civilizations" (6000–850) to "the splitting of the empire and Antipater's occupation of Greece" (323–321).
• "Kagan, Donald. The Fall of the Athenian Empire. New York: Cornell University Press. 1987."
• "Salmon, J.B. Wealthy Corinth: A History of the City to 338 BC. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1984."
• British Admiralty charts:BA1085, BA1093, BA1600