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Corinth

Q1363688

Corinth (Greek Κόρινθος): important Greek city-state, situated on the isthmus between the Peloponnese and the mainland.

View on the Corinthian Isthmus from the Acrocorinth

If ever a city was built on the proverbal "crossroads", it must be Corinth, which is built on the isthmus between the Peloponnese and the mainland and commands the road from north to south at the place where it intersects with the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf
Acrocorinth with source (Upper Peirene)
Two ports (Lechaeum and Cenchreae)
Diolkos; sanctuary of Isthmia; possibility to build a wall across the isthmus

Corinth, Mycenaean kylix

Corinth, Protocorinthian vase with a rooster

Corinth, Orientalizing jar with a lion, a sphinx, and a goose

Corinth, Plate with Demeter

Acrocorinth

Apparently not an important place in Mycenaean times. There were some people living over there, but it was not a major town, comparable to Mycene or Thebes
Lechaeum was more occupied
Early eighth century, Dorian Greeks settled near the Lower Peirene source between the Acrocorinth and Lechaeum; this is the real funding of Corinth
Power to an elite group called the Bacchiads
Colonies in Corcyra and (in 733 BCE) Syracuse
c.657 BCE: Coup of Cypselus, who becomes tyrant

Corinth, Archaic figurine of Zeus

Corinth, Stone lion

Corinth, Stone lion, Colored reconstruction

Relief of a hoplite

Although Herodotus ignores this, Corinth played an important role in the Persian Wars; the Greek HQs were at Isthmia; the Greek victory monument in Delphi mentions that the city had contributed 5,000 hoplites (compared to Sparta's 10,000 and Athens' 8,000)
After the Athenian annexation of Megara, Corinth and Athens share a border; the good relations are over
432BCE: Corinth is one of the cities that forces Sparta to launch the Archidamian War and Decelean War against Athens (431-421, 413-404)
When Sparta became too powerful, Corinth joined the anti-Spartan coalition of Athens, Argos, and Thebes in the Corinthian War (395-387)
Xenophon wrote his Hellenica in Corinth
344-337 BCE: Intervention of Timoleon in Syracuse
338 BCE: the Macedonian king Philip II organizes the Greek city states in the Corinthian League, which is used by his son Alexander the Great in his attack on the Persian Empire (Alexander met Diogenes in Corinth)

Acrocorinth, Hellenistic statuette of Aphrodite

Corinth, Lower Peirene

Corinth, Lechaeum Road

Corinth, Relief of Kore (archaizing)

Inscription, recording a Roman transport fleet passing the Isthmus in 102 BCE.

After the death of Alexander, the city is occupied by various rulers: in 308, Ptolemy I Soter; in 304 Demetrius I Poliorcetes
There is an Antigonid (i.e., Macedonian) garrison on the Acrocorinth; the garrisons at Corinth, in Peiraeus (the port of Athens), and in Chalcis are called "the fetters of Greece"
243 BCE: In a surprise attach, Aratus of Sicyon captures the fortress and convinced Corinth to join the Achaean League
224 BCE: The Macedonians recover Corinth
197 BCE: After the Macedonians have been defeated by Rome, Corinth becomes the capital of the Achaean League
146 BCE: The Romans sack Corinth, which, although not completely deserted, is essentially abandoned