CORINTH (kOr'inth), (Gr. K6ptvOos, kor'in-lhos, ornament, beauty), a Grecian city, placed on the isthmus which joins Peloponnesus (now called the Morea) to the continent of Greece.
(1) Topography. A lofty rock rises above it, on which was the citadel, or the Acrocorinthus. It had two harbors: Cenchrew, on the eastern side, about 7o stadia distant ; and Leclreum, on the modern Gulf of Lepanto, only 12 stadia from the city (Strabo, viii :6). Its earliest name, as given by Homer, is Ephyre. Owing to the great difficulty of weathering Malea, the southern prom ontory of Greece, merchandise passed through Corinth from sea to sea ; the city becoming an entrcpot for the goods of Asia and Italy (Strabo. viii:6). At the same time it commanded the traf fic by land from north to south. An attempt made to dig through the isthmus was frustrated by the rocky nature of the soil ; at one period, how ever, they had an invention for drawing galleys across from sea to sea on trucks. With such ad vantages of position. Corinth was very early re nowned for riches,and seems to have been made by nature for the capital of Greece. When the Achman league was rallying the chief powers of southern Greece. Corinth became its military center. The canal across the isthmus has been recently cut through.
(2) Destruction by Romans. The fatal blow fell on Corinth (B. C. 146), when L. Mummius, by order of the Roman Senate, barbarously de stroyed that beautiful town (Cicero. Verr. i:2t), eminent even in Greece for painting, sculpture, and all designs in metal and pottery.
(3) Corinth of the New Testament. The Corinth of which we read in the New Testament was quite a new city, having been rebuilt and es tablished as a Roman colony. and peopled milt freedmen from Rome (Pausanias and Strabo, u. s.) by the dictator Cesar, a little before his as sassination. Although the soil was too rocky to be fertile, and the territory very limited, Corinth again became a great and wealthy city in a short time, especially as the Roman proconsuls made it the scat of government (Acts xviii.) for south ern Greece, which was now called the province of Achaia. In earlier times Corinth had been celebrated for the great wealth of its Temple of Venus. which had a gainful traffic of a most dis
honorable kind with the numerous merchants res ident there—supplying them with harlots under the pagan forms of religion The same phenom ena, no doubt, reappeared in the later age. The little which is said in the New Testament seems to indicate a wealthy and luxurious community. prone to impurity of morals; nevertheless, all Greece was so contaminated, that we may easily overcharge the accusation against Corinth. The capture of Constantinople by the Venetians and the Crusaders in t20.4 was immediately followed by the surrender of Corinth. In 1446 the Turks took it, and in 1687 the Venetians retook it ; the Turks capturing it again in 1715. In t823 it joined in the successful great rebellion. In February. 1858. it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. hut has since been restored It is now called Gortho. (Davis, Rib. Diet.) (4) Corinthian Church. The Corinthian Church is remarkable in the Epistles of the Apos tle Paul by the variety of its spiritual gifts. which seem for the time to have eclipsed or superseded the office of the elder or bishop, which in most churches became from the beginning so prom inent. Very soon, however, this peculiarity was lost, and the bishops of Corinth take a place co ordinate to those of other capital cities. One of them. Dionysius, appears to have exercised a influence nfluence over many and distant churches. in the latter part of the second century Paul ar rived at Corinth, (Acts xviii:t.) and lodged with Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who, as well as bins. self, were tent-makers. lie preached in the Jewish synagogue. and converted some to the faith t Christ ; and from there he wrote two Epistles to the Thessalonians. Finding that the Jews of Corinth, instead of being benefited, opposed him with blasphemy, he shook his raiment, and turned to the Gentiles, lodging with Justus, surnamed Titus. There is great probability that Paul visited Corinth a second time, (Acts xx:2; and 2 Cor. xii :14 ; xiii:i.) and a third time, on his second return to Rome, 2 Tim. iv:20. (See Acrs OF THE