Ancient Corinth Review

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Ancient Corinth

  • Address: Off E94, 7 km (4 mi) west of Corinth, Corinth
  • Phone: 27410/31207
  • www.culture.gr

Fodor's Review:

Ancient Corinth, at the base of the massive Acrocorinth peak (1,863 feet), was blessed: it governed the north-south land route over the isthmus and the east-west sea route. The fertile plain and hills around the city (where currants named for Corinth are grown) are extensive, and the Acrocorinth served as a virtually impregnable refuge. It had harbors at Lechaion on the Gulf of Corinth and at Kenchreai on the Saronic Gulf. In the 5th century BC, Corinth was a wealthy city with a reputation for luxury and vice, including a Temple of Aphrodite with more than 1,000 sacred prostitutes. These facts are emphasized too often today—amid all the titillation, the real story of Corinth is lost.

The city came to prominence in the 8th century BC, becoming a center of commerce and founding the colonies of Syracuse in Sicily and Kerkyra on Corfu. The 5th century BC saw the rise of Athens as the preeminent economic power in Greece, and Athenian "meddling" in the Gulf of Corinth and in relations between Corinth and her colonies helped bring about the Peloponnesian War. After the war, Corinth made common cause with Athens, Argos, and Boetia against Sparta, later remaining neutral as Thebes and then Macedonia rose to power.

In the second half of the 4th century BC, Corinth became active once more; in 344 BC the city sent an army to rescue Syracuse, which was threatened by local tyrants allied with the Carthaginians. Timoleon, the aristocrat who led the army, was in self-imposed exile after killing his own brother, who had plotted to become tyrant of Corinth. Corinthian opinion was divided as to whether Timoleon was the savior of the city or merely a murderer, so no one objected to Timoleon's appointment to this dangerous mission (he wasn't present at the time). The Corinthian statesman Teleclides understood the challenge facing Timoleon perfectly, saying, "We shall decide that he slew a tyrant if he is successful; that he slew his brother if he fails." The tyrants were suppressed and Carthaginian armies expelled from Sicily; Timoleon, declared a hero, retired to a small farm outside Syracuse, where he died two years later.

Corinth was conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BC, but it was named the meeting place of Philip's new Hellenic confederacy. After Philip was assassinated, Alexander immediately swooped down on Corinth to meet with the confederacy, to confirm his leadership, and to forestall any thoughts of rebellion.

After the death of Alexander, the climate continued to be profitable for trade, and Corinth flourished. When the Roman general Flamininus defeated Macedonia in 198-196 BC, Corinth became the chief city of the Achaean confederacy, and in fact the chief city of Greece. Eventually the confederacy took up arms against Rome, attacking with more impetuosity than training, and was crushed. The Romans under Lucius Mummius marched to Corinth and defeated a second Greek army, and Pausanias wrote: "…Two days after the battle he took possession in force and burnt Corinth. Most of the people who were left there were murdered by the Romans, and Mummius auctioned the women and children." Corinth was razed in 146 BC and its wealth sent back to Rome, and for the next century the site was abandoned.

In 44 BC, Julius Caesar refounded the city, and under the Pax Romana, Corinth became wealthy and prospered as never before; its population (about 90,000 in 400 BC) was recorded as 300,000 plus 450,000 slaves. It was the capital of Roman Greece, equally devoted to business and pleasure, and was mostly populated by freedmen and Jews. The apostle Paul lived in Corinth for 18 months during this period (AD 51-52), working as a tent maker or leather worker, making converts where he could, and inevitably making many enemies as well. He preached to both pagans and Jews, causing the Jewish priests to drag him before the Roman proconsul, although he was acquitted.

The city received imperial patronage from Hadrian, who constructed an aqueduct from Lake Stymfalia to the city, and Herodes Atticus made improvements to its civic buildings. Corinth survived invasions but was devastated by earthquakes and began a long decline with further invasions and plague. After 1204, when Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade, Corinth was a prize sought by all, but it eventually surrendered to Geoffrey de Villehardouin (the subsequent prince of Achaea) and Otho de la Roche (soon to be duke of Athens). Corinth was captured by the Turks in 1458; the Knights of Malta won it in 1612; the Venetians took a turn from 1687 until 1715, when the Turks returned; and the city finally came into Greek hands in 1822.

The ancient city was huge. Excavations, which have gone on since 1896, have exposed ruins at several locations: on the height of Acrocorinth and on the slopes below, the center of the Roman city, and northward toward the coast. Most of the buildings that have been excavated are from the Roman era; only a few from before the sack of Corinth in 146 BC were rehabilitated when the city was refounded.

The Glauke Fountain is past the parking lot on the left. According to Pausanias, "Jason's second wife, Glauke (also known as Creusa), threw herself into the water to obtain relief from a poisoned dress sent to her by Medea." Beyond the fountain is the museum, which displays examples of the pottery decorated with friezes of panthers, sphinxes, bulls, and such, for which Corinth was famous; some mosaics from the Roman period; and marble and terra-cotta sculptures. The remains of a temple (Temple E) adjoin the museum, and steps lead from there left toward the Temple of Apollo.

Seven of the original 38 columns of the Temple of Apollo are still standing, and the structure is by far the most striking of Corinth's ancient buildings, as well as being one of the oldest stone temples in Greece (mid-6th century BC). Beyond the temple are the remains of the North Market, a colonnaded square once surrounded by many small shops. South of the Temple of Apollo is the main Forum of ancient Corinth. A row of shops bounds the Forum at the far western end. East of the market is a series of small temples, and beyond is the Forum's main plaza. A long line of shops runs lengthwise through the Forum, dividing it into an upper (southern) and lower (northern) terrace, in the center of which is the bema (large podium), perhaps the very one where the Roman proconsul Gallio refused to act on accusations against St. Paul.

The southern boundary of the Forum was the South Stoa, a 4th-century building, perhaps erected by Philip II to house delegates to his Hellenic confederacy. There were originally 33 shops across the front, and the back was altered in Roman times to accommodate such civic offices as the council hall, or bouleuterion, in the center. The road to Kenchreai began next to the bouleuterion and headed south. Farther along the South Stoa were the entrance to the South Basilica and, at the far end, the Southeast Building, which probably was the city archive.

In the lower Forum, below the Southeast Building, was the Julian Basilica, a former law court; under the steps leading into it were found two starting lines (an earlier and a later one) for the course of a footrace from the Greek city. Continuing to the northeast corner of the Forum, you approach the facade of the Fountain of Peirene. Water from a spring was gathered into four reservoirs before flowing out through the arcadelike facade into a drawing basin in front. Frescoes of swimming fish from a 2nd-century refurbishment can still be seen. The Lechaion road heads out of the Forum to the north. A colonnaded courtyard, called the Peribolos of Apollo, is directly to the east of the Lechaion Road, and beyond it lies a public latrine, with toilets in place, and the remains of a Roman-era bath, probably the Baths of Eurykles described by Pausanias as Corinth's best known.

Along the west side of the Lechaion road is a large basilica entered from the Forum through the Captives' Facade, named for its sculptures of captive barbarians. West of the Captives' Facade the row of northwest shops completes the circuit.

Northwest of the parking lot is the Odeon, cut into a natural slope, which was built during the AD 1st century, but it burned down around 175. Around 225 it was renovated and used as an arena for combats between gladiators and wild beasts. North of the Odeon is the Theater (5th century BC), one of the few Greek buildings reused by the Romans, who filled in the original seats and set in new ones at a steeper angle. By the 3rd century they had adapted it for gladiatorial contests and finally for mock naval battles.

North of the Theater, inside the city wall, are the Fountain of Lerna and the Asklepieion, the sanctuary of the god of healing with a small temple (4th century BC) set in a colonnaded courtyard and a series of dining rooms in a second courtyard. Terra-cotta votive offerings representing afflicted body parts (hands, legs, breasts, genitals, and so on) were found in the excavation of the Asklepieion, and many of them are displayed at the museum. A stone box for offerings, complete with copper coins, was found at the entrance to the sanctuary. Off the lower courtyard are the drawing basins of the Fountain of Lerna.

  • Cost: EUR 4
  • Open: May-Oct., daily 8-7; Nov.-Apr., daily 8-5
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