Geographical setting and topography The geophysical situation at Corinth is in many ways ideal for human habitation. The city is situated on two large geomorphic terraces, at the southern edge of which is located both arable plains and a number of natural springs. These abundant sources of fresh water are further supplemented by seasonal rivers descending from the Ayios Vasilios valley and Mount Ziria. Natural drainage patterns in the region have formed a broad valley, enabling the movement of wheeled and pedestrian traffic between the terraces. The geological makeup of Corinth provided the basic materials for the city's construction. The
oolitic limestone of the region’s marine sand bars was used extensively in both domestic and public architecture, and local Corinthian stone was quarried extensively and traded widely across the Aegean. Supplementing this resource are abundant local deposits of calcareous marl, which served as a rich source for the production of ceramics. These marls, when dug, dried, powdered, heated, and mixed with water, made for a highly workable clay, excellent for the production of lightweight ceramic vessels. Pottery created from Corinthian limestone concrete was exported widely in various periods.
Prehistory and founding myths Neolithic pottery suggests that the site of Corinth was occupied from at least as early as 6500 BC, and continually occupied into the
Early Bronze Age, when, it has been suggested, the settlement acted as a centre of trade. However, there is a huge 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
Mycenaean period. 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 900 BC, when it is believed that the
Dorians settled there. The Early Helladic II and Early Helladic III eras are listed above. According to Corinthian myth as reported by
Pausanias, the city was founded by
Corinthos, a descendant of the god
Zeus. However, other myths hold that it was founded by the goddess
Ephyra, a daughter of the
Titan Oceanus, thus the ancient name of the city (also Ephyra). 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. The
Catalogue of Ships in the
Iliad lists the Corinthians amid the contingent fighting in the
Trojan War under the leadership of
Agamemnon. In a Corinthian myth recounted to
Pausanias in the 2nd century AD, Briareus, one of the
Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between
Poseidon and
Helios, respectively gods of the sea and the sun. His verdict was that the
Isthmus of Corinth, the area closest to the sea, belonged to Poseidon, and the acropolis of Corinth (
Acrocorinth), closest to the sky, belonged to Helios. The
Upper Peirene spring is located within the walls of the acropolis. Pausanias (2.5.1) says that it was put there by
Asopus, repaying
Sisyphus for information about the abduction of
Aegina by Zeus. According to legend, the winged horse
Pegasus drank at the spring, and was captured and tamed by the Corinthian hero
Bellerophon.
Corinth under the Bacchiadae Corinth had been a backwater in Greece in the 8th century BC. The
Bacchiadae (, ) were a tightly-knit
Doric clan and 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
aristocracy ousted the Bacchiadai Prytaneis and reinstituted the kingship, about the time the Kingdom of Lydia (the
endonymic Basileia Sfard) was at its greatest, coinciding with the ascent of Basileus Meles, King of Lydia. The Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males, took power from the last king Telestes (from the House of
Sisyphos) in Corinth. The Bacchiads dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by annually electing a
prytanis (who held the kingly position for his brief term), probably 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 and 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 with at least 5,000 people.
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. In 657 BC, polemarch
Cypselus obtained an oracle from
Delphi which he interpreted to mean that he should rule the city. He
seized power and exiled the Bacchiadae.
Corinth under the tyrants Cypselus (, ) was the first
tyrant of
Corinth in the 7th century BC. From 658–628 BC, he removed the Bacchiad aristocracy from power and ruled for three decades. He built temples to
Apollo and Poseidon in 650 BC. Cypselus was the son of
Eëtion and a disfigured woman named
Labda. He was a member of the Bacchiad kin and usurped the power in archaic matriarchal right of his mother. 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 he was born. However, the newborn smiled at each of the men sent to kill him, and none of them could bear to strike the blow. Labda then hid the baby in a chest, and the men could not find him once they had composed themselves and returned to kill him. (Compare the infancy of
Perseus.) The
ivory chest of Cypselus was richly worked and adorned with
gold. It was a votive offering at
Olympia, where
Pausanias gave it a minute description in his 2nd century AD travel guide. Cypselus grew up and fulfilled the prophecy. Corinth had been involved in wars with
Argos and
Corcyra, and the Corinthians were unhappy with their rulers. Cypselus was
polemarch at the time (around 657 BC), the
archon in charge of the military, and he used his influence with the soldiers 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.
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." The city sent forth colonists to found new settlements in the 7th century BC, under the rule of Cypselus (r. 657–627 BC) and his son
Periander (r. 627–587 BC). Those settlements were
Epidamnus (modern day
Durrës,
Albania),
Syracuse,
Ambracia,
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, 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. , Ancient Corinth (, , r. 627–587 BC) He ruled for thirty years and was succeeded as tyrant by his son
Periander in 627 BC. The treasury that Cypselus built at
Delphi was apparently still standing in the time of Herodotus, and the
chest of Cypselus was seen by 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 between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulfs. He abandoned the venture due to the extreme technical difficulties that he met, but he created the
Diolkos instead (a stone-built overland ramp). The era of the Cypselids was Corinth's golden age, and ended with Periander's nephew , named after the hellenophile Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus I (see above). Periander killed his wife Melissa. His son Lycophron found out and shunned him, and Periander exiled the son to
Corcyra. Periander later wanted Lycophron to replace him as ruler of Corinth, and convinced him to come home to Corinth on the condition that Periander go to Corcyra. The Corcyreans heard about this and killed Lycophron to keep away Periander.
Corinth after the tyrants 581 BC: Periander's nephew and successor was assassinated, ending the tyranny. 581 BC: the
Isthmian Games were established by leading families. 570 BC: the inhabitants started to use silver coins called 'colts' or 'foals'. 550 BC: Construction of the Temple of Apollo at Corinth (early third quarter of the 6th century BC). 550 BC: Corinth allied with
Sparta. 525 BC: Corinth formed a conciliatory alliance with Sparta against Argos. 519 BC: Corinth mediated between Athens and
Thebes. Around 500 BC: Athenians and Corinthians entreated Spartans not to harm Athens by restoring the tyrant. Just before the classical period, according to
Thucydides, the Corinthians developed the
trireme which became the standard warship of the
Mediterranean until the late Roman period. Corinth fought the first naval battle on record against the Hellenic city of
Corcyra. The Corinthians were also known for their wealth due to their strategic location on the isthmus, through which all land traffic had to pass en route to the Peloponnese, including messengers and traders.
Classical Corinth . Obverse:
Pegasus with the
archaic letter
koppa () beneath the breast. Reverse:
Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Koppa originally stood for (), the earliest spelling of the city's name in
Doric Greek, but came to symbolize Corinth during the
Classical period, as it had otherwise fallen out of use in favour of
kappa () by the 5th century B.C. 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, later losing their market to Athenian artisans. In
classical times and earlier, Corinth had
a temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, employing some thousand
hetairas (temple prostitutes) (see also
Temple prostitution in Corinth). The city was renowned for these temple prostitutes, who served the wealthy merchants and the powerful officials who frequented the city.
Lais, the most famous hetaira, was said to charge tremendous fees for her extraordinary favours. Referring to the city's exorbitant luxuries,
Horace is quoted as saying: "" ("not everyone is able to go to Corinth"). Corinth was also the host of the
Isthmian Games. During this era, Corinthians developed the
Corinthian order, the third main style of classical architecture after the
Doric and the
Ionic. The Corinthian order was the most complicated of the three, showing the city's wealth and the luxurious lifestyle, while the Doric order evoked the rigorous simplicity of the Spartans, and the Ionic was a harmonious balance between these two following the cosmopolitan philosophy of Ionians like the Athenians. The city had two main ports: to the west on the Corinthian Gulf lay
Lechaion, which connected the city to its western colonies (Greek:
apoikiai) and
Magna Graecia, while to the east on the Saronic Gulf the port of
Kenchreai served the ships coming from Athens,
Ionia,
Cyprus and the
Levant. Both ports had docks for the city's large navy. In 491 BC, Corinth mediated between
Syracuse and
Gela in Sicily. During the years 481–480 BC, the Conference at the Isthmus of Corinth (following conferences at Sparta) established the Hellenic League, which allied under the Spartans to fight the
war against
Persia. The city was a major participant in the Persian Wars, sending 400 soldiers to defend
Thermopylae and supplying forty warships for the
Battle of Salamis under
Adeimantos and 5,000
hoplites with their characteristic
Corinthian helmets) in the following
Battle of Plataea. The Greeks obtained the surrender of Theban collaborators with the Persians. Pausanias took them to Corinth where they were put to death. Following the
Battle of Thermopylae and the subsequent
Battle of Artemisium, which resulted in the captures of
Euboea,
Boeotia, and
Attica, the
Greco-Persian Wars were at a point where now most of mainland Greece to the north of the
Isthmus of Corinth had been overrun. Herodotus, who was believed to dislike the Corinthians, mentions that they were considered the second best fighters after the Athenians. In 458 BC, Corinth was defeated by Athens at
Megara.
Peloponnesian War In 435 BC, Corinth and its colony
Corcyra went to war over
Epidamnus. In 433 BC, Athens allied with Corcyra against Corinth. The Corinthian war against the Corcyrans was the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time. In 431 BC, one of the factors leading to the
Peloponnesian War was the dispute between Corinth and Athens over Corcyra, which possibly stemmed from the traditional trade rivalry between the two cities or, as Thucydides relates – the dispute over the colony of Epidamnus. The Syracusans sent envoys to Corinth and Sparta to seek allies against
Athenian invasion. The Corinthians "voted at once to aid [the Syracusans] heart and soul". The Corinthians also sent a group to Lacedaemon to rouse Spartan assistance. After a convincing speech from the Athenian renegade
Alcibiades, the Spartans agreed to send troops to aid the Sicilians. yet they bore no malice whatever.
Corinthian War In 395 BC, after the end of the Peloponnesian War, Corinth and Thebes, dissatisfied with the hegemony of their Spartan allies, moved to support Athens against Sparta in the
Corinthian War. 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.
379–323 BC In 379 BC, Corinth, switching back to the
Peloponnesian League, joined
Sparta in an attempt to defeat Thebes and eventually take over Athens. 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. Demosthenes recounts how Athens had fought the Spartans in a great battle near Corinth. The city decided not to harbor the defeated Athenian troops, but instead sent heralds to the Spartans. But the Corinthian heralds opened their gates to the defeated Athenians and saved them. 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 conflicts further weakened the
city-states of the Peloponnese and set the stage for the conquests of
Philip II of Macedon.
Demosthenes warned that Philip's military force exceeded that of Athens and thus they must develop a tactical advantage. He noted the importance of a citizen army as opposed to a mercenary force, citing the mercenaries of Corinth who fought alongside citizens and defeated the Spartans. In 338 BC, after having defeated Athens and its allies,
Philip II created the
League of Corinth to unite Greece (included Corinth and Macedonia) in the war against Persia. Philip was named
hegemon of the League. In the spring of 337 BC, the Second congress of Corinth established the
Common Peace.
Hellenistic period 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 308 BC, the city was captured from the Antigonids by Ptolemy I, who claimed to come as a liberator of Greece from the Antigonids. However, the city was recaptured by
Demetrius in 304 BC. Corinth remained under Antigonid control for half a century. After 280 BC, it was ruled by the faithful governor
Craterus; but, in 253/2 BC, his son
Alexander of Corinth, moved by
Ptolemaic subsidies, resolved to challenge the Macedonian supremacy and seek independence as a tyrant. He was probably poisoned in 247 BC; after his death, the Macedonian king
Antigonus II Gonatas retook the city in the winter of 245/44 BC. The Macedonian rule was short-lived. In 243 BC,
Aratus of Sicyon, using a surprise attack, captured the fortress of Acrocorinth and convinced the citizenship to join the
Achaean League. Thanks to an alliance agreement with Aratus, the Macedonians recovered Corinth once again in 224 BC; but, after the Roman intervention in 197 BC, the city was permanently brought into the Achaean League. Under the leadership of
Philopoemen, the Achaeans went on to take control of the entire Peloponnesus and made Corinth the capital of their confederation.
Classical Roman era . 19th-century depiction of the Roman sack of the city
Roman occupation and development In 146 BC, Rome declared
war on the Achaean League. A series of Roman victories culminated in the
Battle of Corinth, after which the army of
Lucius Mummius besieged, captured, and burned the city. Mummius killed all the men and sold the women and children into slavery; he was subsequently given the
cognomen as the conqueror of the Achaean League. There is archeological evidence of some minimal habitation in the years afterwards, but Corinth remained largely deserted until
Julius Caesar refounded the city as ("colony of Corinth in honour of Julius") in 44 BC, shortly before his
assassination. At this time, an
amphitheatre was built (). 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. The city was an important locus for activities of
The Roman Imperial Cult, and both Temple E and the Julian Basilica have been suggested as locations of imperial cult activity.
New Testament Corinth Corinth is mentioned many times in the
New Testament, largely in connection with
Paul the Apostle's mission there, testifying to the success of Caesar's refounding of the city. Traditionally, the
Church of Corinth is believed to have been founded by Paul, making it an
Apostolic See. The apostle Paul first visited the city in AD 49 or 50, when
Gallio, the brother of
Seneca, was
proconsul of Achaia. Paul resided here for eighteen months (see ). Here he first became acquainted with
Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he later traveled. They worked here together as tentmakers (from which is derived the modern Christian concept of
tentmaking), and regularly attended the
synagogue. In AD 51/52, Gallio presided over the
trial of the Apostle Paul in
Corinth.
Silas and
Timothy rejoined Paul here, having last seen him in
Berea (). suggests that Jewish refusal to accept his preaching here led Paul to resolve no longer to speak in the synagogues where he travelled: "From now on I will go to the Gentiles". However, on his arrival in
Ephesus (), the narrative records that Paul went to the synagogue to preach. Paul wrote at least two
epistles to the Christian church, the
First Epistle to the Corinthians (written from Ephesus) and the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians (written from
Macedonia). Both canonical epistles occasionally reflect the conflict between the missionary ambitions of the thriving Christian church and a strong desire to remain separate from the surrounding community. Some scholars believe that Paul visited Corinth for an intermediate "painful visit" (see ) between the first and second epistles. After writing the second epistle, he stayed in Corinth for about three months in the late winter, and there wrote his
Epistle to the Romans. 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. Only two are contained within the
Christian canon (
First and
Second Epistles to the Corinthians); the other two letters are lost. (The lost letters would probably represent the very first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and the third one, and so the First and Second Letters of the canon would be the second and the fourth if four were written.) Many scholars think that the third one (known as the "letter of the tears"; see 2 Cor 2:4) is included inside the canonical
Second Epistle to the Corinthians (it would be chapters 10–13). This letter is not to be confused with the so-called "
Third Epistle to the Corinthians", which is a pseudepigraphical letter written many years after the death of Paul. There are speculations from Bruce Winter that the Jewish access to their own food in Corinth was disallowed after Paul's departure. By this theory, Paul had instructed Christian Gentiles to maintain Jewish access to food according to their dietary laws. This speculation is contested by David Rudolph, who argues that there is no evidence to support this theory. He argues instead that Paul had desired the Gentile Christians to remain assimilated within their Gentile communities and not adopt Jewish dietary procedures.
Medieval Roman (Byzantine) era The city was largely destroyed in the earthquakes of AD 365 and AD 375, followed by
Alaric's invasion in 396. The city was rebuilt after these disasters on a monumental scale, but covered a much smaller area than previously. Four churches were located in the city proper, another on the citadel of the
Acrocorinth, and a monumental
basilica at the port of
Lechaion. During the reign of
Emperor Justinian I (527–565), a large stone wall was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulfs, protecting the city and the Peloponnese peninsula from the barbarian invasions from the north. The stone wall was about six miles (10 km) long and was named
Hexamilion ("six-miles"). Corinth declined from the 6th century on, and may even have fallen to barbarian invaders in the early 7th century. The main settlement moved from the lower city to the Acrocorinth. Despite its becoming the capital of the
theme of
Hellas and, after c. 800, of the theme of the
Peloponnese, it was not until the 9th century that the city began to recover, reaching its apogee in the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was the site of a flourishing
silk industry. The wealth of the city attracted the attention of the
Italo-Normans under
Roger II of Sicily, who plundered it in 1147, carrying off many captives, most notably silk weavers. The city never fully recovered from the Norman sack. The
Venetians captured the city in 1687 during the
Morean War, and it remained under
Venetian control until the Ottomans retook the city in 1715. Corinth was the capital of the
Mora Eyalet in 1715–1731 and then again a
sanjak capital until 1821.
Independence , 1847 During the
Greek War of Independence, 1821–1830 the city was contested by the Ottoman forces. At that time, the Christian
Albanian tribes living to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth attacked the acropolis of the city. They were around 2000 musketeers against the Ottoman troops. 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.
Nafplio was chosen initially, then
Athens. ==Ancient city and its environs==