Ancient Corinth

Visit Ancient Corinth, the city-state (Polis) on the Isthmus of Corinth. The Isthmus is the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens City and Sparta. The modern town of Corinth is located approximately 5 kilometers northeast of the Ancient Town, which is part of our Corinth tour.

Ancient Corinth is well-known from the two letters of Saint Paul in the New Testament, First Corinthians and then Second Corinthians. Corinth is also mentioned in the Book of Acts as part of the Apostle Paul’s missionary travels. In addition, the second book of Pausanias’ Description of Greece is devoted to Corinth.
Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC. The Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BC, built a new city in its place in 44 BC, and later made it the provincial capital of Greece.

The site of Corinth was occupied from at least as early as 6500 BC, as Neolithic pottery suggests. It was continually occupied into the Early Bronze Age, when, the settlement acted as a center of trade. However, it appears that the area was very sparsely inhabited in the period immediately before the Mycenaean period. There was a settlement on the coast near Lechaion which traded across the Corinthian Gulf. Around 900 BC the Dorians settled there.

Furthermore, 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 Kings at Corinth. Moreover, Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, abandoned Medea in Corinth. The Corinthians participated, under the leadership of Agamemnon, in the Trojan War as portrayed in the Iliad.