Corinth

Corinth, a noted city of antiquity at the S. end of the rocky Isthmus of Corinth, which rises to a height of 262 feet, and culminates in the stronghold Acrocorinthus. It possessed three harbours, Lechaeum W., on the Gulf of Corinth, Cenchrae and Schaenus E., on the Saronic Gulf. It was the great emporium of Greek trade, and like many other centres of material wealth was deficient in native learning and art. though the acknowledged mistress of luxury and vice. Goods were easily borne across the Isthmus from one harbour to the other, and so the city was the connecting link between east and west. One of its chief exports was the works of art which it could not produce. It possessed many colonies, and the first naval battle was between Corinth and Corcyra. Founded - so says tradition - in 1350 B.C., by Sisyphus, it became Dorian in 1074. Then succeeded an oligarchy, which was overthrown by Cypselus, who was succeeded by Periander. In 582 it again became Dorian, and was the great foe of Athens. It then became Macedonian, and afterwards joined the Achaean League. In 146 it fell into the hands of the Romans. Julius Ceesar rebuilt the city which had been destroyed, and it again became the "Star of Greece," and the home of luxury and wickedness sharply lashed by St. Paul. In the third century A.D. it fell a prey to the Goths, to Alaric in the fourth, and to the Slavs in the eighth. In 1205 it fell to the Franks, then to the Eastern Emperor, and in 1459 to the Turks, under whose rule it surely decayed. In 1822 the Turks lost it. In 1858 it was destroyed by an earthquake, and a new city was built three miles to the E. The isthmus in ancient times was crossed by a kind of ship railway, the Diolkos; afterwards a canal was undertaken. A ship canal across has long been under construction, but the works have often been interrupted. In old times Corinth was a special home of the cult of Aphrodite and of Love. Among its greatest men were Arion, Periander, and Timoleon.