CORINTH (originally called Ephyre), a famous city of antiquity situated on the isthmus connecting the northern division of Greece, or Hellas proper, with the Pelopon nesus. Its citadel was the Acrocorinthus, an isolated hill 1886 ft. high, separated from the Oneian range on the n. of the isthmus by a ravine, and forming, in the opinion of col. Mum, the most gigantic natural citadel in Europe, neither the Acropolis of Athens nor the fortress of Gibraltar being able even remotely to compete with it. At the northern foot of this hill lay the city of C., on a broad level rock nearly 200 ft. above the level of the isthmus. It was probably founded by the Phenicians, who had various settlements on the Grecian coast, and who could hardly have failed to notice the extra ordinary maritime advantages of its situation. According to its legendary history, how ever, it was founded by Sisyphus, the .ZEohan, about 1350 u.c. It was then conquered by the Heracleidm, who ruled as an oligarchy for twelve generations, when they were expelled by Cvpsclus, the father of Periander, with the help of the populace, 657 n.c. After a period of 77 years, the Spartans—the great enemies of democracy in Greece— established again a sort of aristocratic government, and C. now figures in history as the close ally of Sparta. In the Peloponnesian war, it at first furnished the greater part of the fleet employed against the Athenians, but afterwards became jealous of the Lacede monian power, and was induced to league with other Grecian states against it, 395 n.c. The war which ensued is known as the Corinthian war, and lasted till the peace of Antal cidas, 387 sac. In the strife which broke out between Thebes and Sparta, C. remained faithful to the latter. After the battle of Chteroneia, 338 B.C., in which the liberties of Greece were crushed by the Macedonians, it was garrisoned and held by the latter. Sub sequently, it was the center of the Achean league formed against the Romans, and in revenge was utterly destroyed (146 n.e.) by L. Mummins,.the Roman general. For a whole century it continued in ruins. In 46 n.c., Julius Ctesar rebuilt it, and made it the capital of Aehaia; and although it never again attained its former importance, it became both prosperous and powerful. St. Paul planted a Christian church here, to
which he also addressed two epistles. Pausanias. who visited it in the 2d c. A.D., states that it then contained many public buildings. From the western emperors it passed into the hands of the Venetians. In 1458 A.D. it was conquered by the Turks. under Mohammed II., recovered by the Venetians in 1687, and retaken by the Turks in 1715, who held it till 1823. Reduced to ashes in the revolutionary war, and again utterly destroyed by an earthquake in 1858, C. is being now rebuilt in a more convenient posi. lion near the shore of the gulf of Corinth. Its pop. is about 2,000.
Ancient C. was surrounded by walls which included the Aerocorinthus, and had two liarbors—Ledupura, on the Cristean bay (now the gulf of Lepanto), opening into the Adriatic; and Cenclirew i , on the Saronic gulf (now the gulf of Athens), opening into the iEgean. The former was connected with the city by two parallel walls. The vast ,vealth of its merchants was the bane of Corinth. It became notorious as the most licen tious city in all Greece, and was the favorite resort of courtezans. The patron goddess of the city was Aphrodite, in whose temple, on the Acrocorinthus, were kept more than a thousand "sacred female slaves" (hieratiouloi) for the use of strangers. C., however, has better claims to remembrance. The art of painting is said to have been invented here, and at the time of its captdre by the Romans, it possessed some of the finest pic tures in Greece. Among these was the picture of Bacchus, by Aristides, for which Attains offered 600,000 sesterces. Architecture, statuary, and bronze-work also flour ished, and earlier, during the reign of Periander, poetry was cultivated, Anion having either invented or improved the dithyramb in Corinth. Afterwards, however, no atten tion was paid to literature by the inhabitants, and it has been noticed that "among the illustrious writers of Greece not a single Corinthian appears."