Everything about Corinth Greece totally explained
Corinth, or
Korinth (
Greek Κόρινθος,
(
Turkish:
Gördüş) is a city in
Greece. In antiquity it was a
city-state, on the
Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the
Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the
Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the
Saronic Gulf. Corinth is about southwest of
Athens. The isthmus, which was in ancient times traversed by hauling ships over the rocky ridge on sledges, is now cut by a canal.
Corinth is now the capital of the
prefecture of
Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of (clockwise)
Lechaio,
Isthmia,
Kechries, and the inland townlets of
Examilia and the archaeological site. Geophysically the city is likewise surrounded by the narrow coastal plain of
Vocha, Corinthian Gulf,
Corinth Canal, Saronic Gulf,
Oneia mountains, and the monolithic rock of
Acrocorinth where the medieval
acropolis was built.
History
Prehistoric era
The city was founded in the
Neolithic Age, circa 6000 BC. According to 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.
Before the end of the
Mycenaean period the
Dorians attempted to settle in Corinth. While at first they failed, their second attempt was successful when their leader
Aletes followed a different path around the Corinthian Gulf from
Antirio.
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 Corinthians participated under the leadership of
Agamemnon.
Classical era
) beneath. Reverse:
Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Qoppa symbolised the archaic writing of the city (όρινθος).]]
In classical times the ancient city 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 cities around the Greek world. Athenian potters later came to dominate the market. Corinth's great temple on its ancient acropolis was dedicated to the goddess
Aphrodite. According to most sources, there were more than one thousand
temple prostitutes employed at the Temple of Aphrodite. Corinth was also the host of the
Isthmian Games.
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 (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.
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.
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", 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.
The city was a major participant in the
Persian Wars, offering 40 war ships in the sea
Battle of Salamis under the admiral
Adeimantos and 5,000
hoplites (wearing their characteristic
Corinthian helmets) in the following
Battle of Plataea but afterwards was frequently an enemy of Athens and an ally of
Sparta in the
Peloponnesian League. 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.
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.
In the 4th century BC, Corinth was home to
Diogenes of Sinope, one of the world's best known
cynics.
Roman era
The
Romans under
Lucius Mummius destroyed Corinth following a siege in 146 BC; 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 (see
Battle of Corinth). While there's 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. According to
Appian, the new settlers were drawn from
freedmen of Rome. Under the Romans it became the seat of government for Southern
Greece or
Achaia (according to ). It was noted for its wealth, and for the luxurious, immoral and vicious habits of the people. 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
Aquila and
Priscilla, and soon after his departure
Apollos came from
Ephesus.
Paul visited Corinth for a "second benefit" (see
2 Corinthians 1:15), and remained for three months, according to Acts 20:3. During this second visit in the spring of 58 it's likely the
Epistle to the Romans was written.
Paul also 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 reflects the difficulties of maintaining a Christian community in such a cosmopolitan city.
Byzantine era
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
Byzantine 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 (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.
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
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 against 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
Villehardouin's 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 Plaiologos, who was Despot of Morea, built the
Hexamilion wall across the
Isthmus of Corinth.
Ottoman Rule
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
During the
Greek War of Independence, 1821-1830 the city was destroyed by the Turkish forces. 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
In 1858, the old city of Corinth (now known as Αρχαία Κόρινθος / Ancient Corinth; a town 3km/2mi SW of the modern city) was totally destroyed by an earthquake. The new city of Corinth was founded on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth. Corinth is the second largest city in the
periphery of Peloponnese after
Kalamata (53,659 inh. in 2001). In the census of 1991 the city had a population of 28,071 while latest data 2001 showed an increase of 2,363 inhabitants (+8,4%) to 30,434. It should be noted the fact that between the census of 1981 and that of 1991 the city had one of the fastest increasing populations in the country.
The Municipality of Corinth or
Dimos Korinthion had a population of 36,991 in 2001. The municipality includes the town of Ancient Corinth (1,770 inh.), where the ancient and the medieval city used to be built at the foothills of the rock of Acrocorinth 3km from the new city centre, the town of Examilia (1,547 inh.), and the smaller settlements of
Xylokeriza (777 inh.) and
Solomos (686 inh.).
The Corinth Canal, carrying ship traffic between the western Mediterranean and the
Aegean Sea, is about 4 km east of the city, cutting through the
Isthmus of Corinth.
A city square is located next to its
port. The port operates north of the square, and serves the local needs of industry and agriculture. It is mainly a cargo exporting facility. The town centre is home to some surprisingly glamorous shops and bars for a relatively small town, as well as high quality local leather and jewellery outlets.
Corinth is a major industrial hub at a national level. Copper cables, petroleum products, medical equipment, marble, gypsum, ceramic tiles, salt, mineral water & beverages, meat products, and gums are produced nearby. Currently (2005) a period of de-industrialization has commenced as a large pipework complex, a textile factory and a meat packing facility disrupted their operations.
A large oil-refinery complex is situated about 12 km northeast of the city, which some think is the line marking the Athens metro area. The complex is amongst the largest in the eastern Mediterranean. It is surrounded by
Greece Interstate 8A and a 3+1 lanes per direction freeway. A modern rest area with restaurants and gas stations is located nearby on the freeway.
The city is the terminal point of a newly-built ultra-modern electric railway line (
Proastiakos) to the Athens metropolitan area. Expectations for further economic and residential expansion are significant due to this new development.
The city is also a major road hub being the entry point to the Peloponnesian peninsula, the southernmost area of continental Greece.
Port of Corinth
The
Port of Corinth is situated close to the northwest entrance of the Corinth Canal, at 37 56.0’ N / 22 56.0’ E (Local Time: [GMT+2]). It is an artificial
harbour (depth app. 9 metres/27 feet), protected by a concrete
mole (length app. 930 metres, width 100 metres, mole surface 93,000 m2) in front of the town of Corinth. A new pier finished in the late 1980s doubled the capacity of the port. The reinforced mole protects anchored vessels from strong northern winds. The port facilities are well protected around their perimeter by high iron fences.
Within the port a
customs office facility and a
Hellenic Coast Guard post operate 24/7. Sea traffic is limited to trade in the export of local produce, mainly citrus fruits, grapes, marbles, aggregates and some (less) domestic imports. The Port of Corinth operates as a contingency facility for general cargo ships,
bulk carriers and
ROROs, in case of
strikes at
Piraeus port. There is a
ferry line (RORO) connecting Corinth to
Italy.
Load Line zone
Summer, Salt Water.
Plimsoll line=.
British Admiralty charts
BA1085, BA1093, BA1600
Corinth Football (Soccer)
The city's
football (soccer) team is the Athletic Football Club of Corinth,
P.A.S. Kórinthos (
Π.Α.Σ. Κόρινθος). During the 2006-2007 season, the team played in the Greek Fourth Division's Regional Group 7. The team went undefeated that season and it earned the top spot.
(External Link
) This granted the team a promotion to the
Gamma Ethnikí (Third Division) for the 2007-2008 season.
P.A.S. Kórinthos was established in 1999 after the merger of the Pankorinthian Football Club (
Παγκορινθιακός) and the Corinth Football Club (
Π.Α.E. Κόρινθος).
Gallery
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Sister cities
Further Information
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