Corinth
From Theologica
Overview
Corinth was a major adj. city of antiquity. Situated on the western side of the isthmus connecting mainland Greece to the Peloponnesus, Corinth stood as the gatekeeper between these two bodies. By holding such a position, Corinth was able to prosper from the "interstate" traffic between the two landmasses. Corinth furthermore controlled a "five-foot-wide rock-cut track for wheeling ships across the isthmus" which added further traffic from merchants wishing to bypass the route around the Peloponnese.
At its peak, Corinth may have boasted a population of almost 100,000 people.
Corinth was a member of the Ahaian league (a confederation of Greek city-states in Achaia. "In 146 B.C., the league erupted into open revolt against Roman domination. The Romans under Lucius Mummius defeated the Achaeans, razed Corinth and dissolved the league." (wikipedia)
Corinth stood almost completely desolate for a hundred years. In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar refounded the city, populating it with Italian Freedmen (most likely military veterans).
Today, Corinth boasts a population of just under 40,000 people and is still a major trade route.
Population: Religions: Economy: Politics: Geography:
Corinth's great temple on its ancient acropolis was dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite.
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 Acts 18:12-16). 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.
The key to this city's success has less to do with it being a port city than having to do with it being the major city from the mainland of Greece to the Peloponnesus; Corinth controlled the isthmus (narrow strip of lang joining to targer land masses).
"In 27 b.c., Corinth was named capital of the senatorial province of Achaia, seat of the ruling proconsul" (Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (182). San Francisco: Harper & Row.)
> A contemporary villa gives a good understanding of the limitations on the size of ‘house-churches,’ perhaps explaining why factions arose in Corinth (several house-churches) and why there was discrimination in the communal meals of the general assembly (the dining room could only accommodate a select few, according to a Roman custom of ranking guests). Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (184). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
> In the First Century: Many commentators on the nt describe the Corinth of Paul’s time as a city of unbridled sexual orgies, basing their view on certain remarks of ancient, mostly Athenian, writers and on a passage of Strabo’s Geography referring to a thousand temple prostitutes of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth. More recent scholarship has pointed out, however, both that the Athenian references were snobbish disparagements of the pre-146 b.c. city and that sacred prostitution was a Middle Eastern custom, not a Greek one at all. Corinth was probably no more or less virtuous than any other cosmopolitan port city of the Mediterranean in the first century a.d. _ Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (183). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
