Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

The Siege of Corinth

The City of Corinth

Corinth is a Greek city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that connects Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. Corinth is about 48 miles southwest of Athens. The city was founded in the Neolithic Age, circa 6000 BCE. According to myth, the city was founded by Corinthos, a descendant of Helios, the Sun god, while other myths suggest that the goddess Ephyra, a daughter of the titan Oceanus, founded Corinth; thus the ancient name of the city was Ephyra. Ancient names such as Korinthos, derive from a pre-Greek, "Pelasgian" language. Corinth was also the site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city. According to myth, Sisyphus founded a race of ancient kings in Corinth. Additionally, Corinth was where Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, abandoned Medea, the woman who helped him try to get the Golden Fleece, to marry the daughter of the Corinthian King Creon. During the Trojan War, Corinthians participated under the leadership of Agamemnon. Furthermore, until the 500s, Corinth was a major exporter of black-figure pottery.

Corinth's great temple was dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. According to most sources, the city was renowned for the temple prostitutes, who served the wealthy merchants and the powerful officials living in or traveling in and out of the city. There were more than one thousand temple prostitutes employed at the Temple of Aphrodite.

During Periander’s reign in the 7th century BCE, he forged the first Corinthian coins and attempted to cut across the Isthmus, allowing ship traffic between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulf. Although that failed, he created the Diolkos, a stone-built overland ramp, instead. During this era, Corinthians developed the Corinthian order, the third order of the classical architecture after the Ionic and the Doric. The Corinthian order displayed the accumulation of wealth and the luxurious lifestyle in the ancient city-state.

The city had two main ports, one in the Corinthian Gulf and one in the Saronic Gulf. Both ports had docks for the large war fleet of the city-state. The city was a major participant in the Persian Wars. Corinth was frequently an enemy of Athens and an ally of Sparta in the Peloponnesian League. In 431 BCE, one of the factors leading to the Peloponnesian War was the dispute between Corinth and Athens over a Corinthian colony, which probably stemmed from the traditional trade rivalry. After the end of the Peloponnesian War, Corinth and Thebes, former allies of Sparta, grew dissatisfied with Sparta and started the Corinthian War, which further weakened the city-states of the Peloponnese. This weakness allowed for subsequent invasions and the forging of the Corinthian League against the Persian Empire.

The Romans destroyed Corinth following a siege in 146 BCE; when they entered the city, the Romans put all the men to death, sold the women and children into slavery, and torched the city. Julius Caesar reestablished the city in 44 BCE. Corinth had a large population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. It was noted for its wealth, and for the luxurious, immoral and vicious habits of the people. When the apostle Paul first visited the city in about 51 CE, he resided there for eighteen months (Acts 18:1-18). Although he intended to pass through Corinth the second time before he visited Macedonia, circumstances were such, that he went from Troas to Macedonia, and then likely passed into Corinth for a "second benefit". During this second visit in the spring of 58, it is probable that he wrote the Epistle. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians reflects the difficulties of maintaining a Christian community in such a cosmopolitan city.

During the Greek War of Independence, from 1821 to 1830, the Turkish forces destroyed Corinth. The city was officially liberated in 1832 in the Treaty of London. In 1833, the site was considered a candidate for the new capital city of the Kingdom of Greece, due to its historical significance and strategic position. Athens, then fairly insignificant, was chosen instead. Currently, Corinth is the second largest city in Peloponnese.
The Corinth Canal carries ship traffic between the western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea through the Isthmus of Corinth. The port serves local needs of industry and agriculture. It is mainly a cargo exporting facility. Corinth is a major industrial hub nationally. A large oil-refinery complex is close to the city. The city is the terminal point of a modern electric railway line to the Athens metropolitan area. There are expectations for further economic and residential expansion due to new development. The city is also the entry point to the Peloponnesian peninsula, the southernmost area of continental Greece.

-Lily Friedman
Excerpted from Wikipedia

 

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