Maximilian Otto Bismarck Caspari and Rufus Byam Richardson

“ Old Corinth passed through its various stages, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish. After the War of Liberation it was again Greek, and, being a considerable town, was suggested as the capital of the new kingdom of Greece. The earthquake of 1858 levelled it to the ground with the exception of about a dozen houses. A mere handful of the old inhabitants remained on the site. But fertile fields and running water made it attractive; and outsiders gradually came in. At present it is an untidy, poverty-stricken village of about 1000 inhabitants, mostly of Albanian blood. ”

“ In Levantine waters connexions grew up with the great marts of Chalcis and Miletus, with the rulers of Lydia, Phrygia, Cyprus and Egypt. As an industrial centre Corinth achieved pre-eminence in pottery, metal-work and decorative handicraft, and was the reputed “inventor” of painting and tiling; her bronze and her pottery, moulded from the soft white clay of Oneium, were widely exported over the Mediterranean. ”

“ Somewhat less than a quarter of a mile to the N.W. of the temple, set back into the edge of the upper terrace, there was found, under 20 ft. of soil, a ruined Roman theatre built upon the ruins of a Greek theatre. This theatre was, according to Pausanias, on the street leading from the agora towards Sicyon, and so to the west of the agora. Another trench dug across the deep indentation to the E. of the temple revealed a broad limestone pavement leading from the very northern edge of the city up through the indentation, in the direction of Acro-Corinth. ”

“ Although a considerable part of the agora has been excavated, none of the statues which Pausanias saw in it have been discovered. On the upper (S.) side are excellent foundations of a long porch. On the N. side, stretching westward from the propylaea, are two porches of different periods. The older one, which still existed in Roman times, was backed up against the temple hill, which was cut away to make room for it. An ancient staircase, 15 ft. broad, led down from the temple hill into the lower area of the broad pavement, from which access to the agora and the Pirene was easy. ”

“ In the great Persian war of 480 Corinth served as the Greek headquarters: her army took part at Thermopylae and Plataea and her navy distinguished itself at Salamis and Mycale. Later in the century the rapid development of Athenian trade and naval power became a serious menace. In 459 the Corinthians, in common with their former rivals the Aeginetans, made war upon Athens, but lost both by sea and land. ”

“ CORINTH, a city of Greece, situated near the isthmus (see Corinth, Isthmus of) which connects Peloponnesus and central Greece, and separates the Saronic and the Corinthian gulfs on E. and W. The ancient town stood 11⁄2 m. from the latter, in a plain extending westward to Sicyon. The citadel, or Acrocorinthus, rising precipitously on the S. to a height of 1886 ft. was separated by a ravine from Oneium, a range of hills which runs E. to the isthmus entrance. Between this ridge and the offshoots of Geraneia opposite a narrow depression allowed of easy transit across the Isthmus neck. ”

“ Two of these figures stood at the end of a re-entrant curve, several pieces of which are preserved. Two female heads of like proportions belong to the system, since the backs of their heads are cut away in the same manner as the male heads. ”