Corinth > Kórinthos Korinthia Greece

…the region of the Isthmus of Corinth, and …

The Peloponnesian site of Corinth, about fifty miles (eighty kilometers) west of Athens, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth, had been occupied from before 3000 BCE, but its history is obscure until the early eighth century BCE, when the city-state of Corinth, established by Dorians, begins to develop as a commercial center.

The city has grown up at the base of the citadel of the Acrocorinthus—a Gibraltar-like eminence rising 1,886 feet (575 meters) above sea level.

The Acrocorinthus lies about one and a half miles (two and a half kilometers) south of the Isthmus of Corinth, which connects the Peloponnese with central Greece and which also separates the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs from each other.

The citadel of the Acrocorinthus rises precipitously above the old city and commands the land route into the Peloponnese, a circumstance that gives Corinth great strategic and commercial importance.

Corinth's political influence is increased through territorial expansion in the vicinity, and by the late eighth century, it has secured control of the isthmus.

During the eighth and seventh centuries, the Bacchiad family of nobles rules Corinth, but they are eventually overthrown by Cypselus, one of the newly powerful class of ambitious merchant-aristocrats and only a partial Bacchiad, who rules the city as a tyrant from about 657.

This is the first firmly datable and well-authenticated Greek tyranny, or one-man rule by a usurper.

Evidently, no one regrets the passing of the Bacchiadae.

Corinth is a backwater city-state (polis) on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta.

An aristocratic revolution ousts the monarchy in 747 BCE (a traditional date), when the royal clan of Bacchiadae, a tightly knit Doric clan numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males and claiming descent from the Dorian hero Heracles through the seven sons and three daughters of a legendary king Bacchis, takes power from the last king, Telestes.

Practicing strict endogamy, which keeps clan outlines within a distinct extended oikos, they dispense with kingship and rule as a group, governing the city by electing annually a prytanis (executive) who holds the kingly position for his brief term, doubtless with a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials) and a polemarchos (war leader) to head the army.

Corinth is on its way to becoming a unified state.

The Peloponnesian site of Corinth, about fifty miles (eighty kilometers) west of Athens, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth, had been occupied from before 3000 BCE, but its history is obscure until the early eighth century BCE, when the Corinthian city-state established by Dorians began to develop as a commercial center.

The city has grown up at the base of the citadel of the Acrocorinthus—a Gibraltar-like eminence rising 1,886 feet (575 meters) above sea level.

The Acrocorinthus lies about one and a half miles (two and a half kilometers) south of the Isthmus of Corinth, which connects the Peloponnese with central Greece and which also separates the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs from each other.

The citadel of the Acrocorinthus rises precipitously above the old city and commands the land route into the Peloponnese, a circumstance that gives Corinth great strategic and commercial importance.

Corinth's political influence is increased through territorial expansion in the vicinity, and by the late eighth century, it has secured control of the isthmus.

During the eighth and seventh centuries, the Bacchiad family of nobles rules Corinth, but they are eventually overthrown by Cypselus, one of the newly powerful class of ambitious merchant-aristocrats and only a partial Bacchiad, who rules the city as a tyrant from about 657.

Corinth had been involved in wars with Argos and Corcyra, and the Corinthians were unhappy with their rulers.

At the time, Cypselus was polemarch, the archon in charge of the military, and he used his influence with the soldiery to expel the Bacchiadae.

He also expels his other enemies, but allows them to set up colonies in northwestern Greece.

He also increases trade with the colonies in Italy and Sicily.

This is the first firmly datable and well-authenticated Greek tyranny, or one-man rule by a usurper.

Evidently, no one regrets the passing of the Bacchiadae.

Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth, dies in about 627 BCE, leaving his colonial empire, with new cities on the west coast of Greece and Epirus, to his son Periander.

The late archaic period in Greece, defined on the basis of pottery styles, succeeds the early archaic period in about 620 BCE.

Lasting until around 480, the period will see significant advancements in political theory, and the rise of democracy, philosophy, theater, and poetry, as well as the revitalization of the written language (which had been lost during the Dark Ages).

The period takes its name from what, in art history, is considered the archaic or old-fashioned style of sculpture and other works of art/craft that were characteristic of this time, as opposed to the more natural look of work made in the following Classical period.

The major sculptural forms during the period are the kouros and its female equivalent, the kore.

In pottery, the Archaic period sees the development of the Orientalizing style, which signals a shift from the Geometric Style and the accumulation of influences derived from Phoenicia and Syria.

Pottery styles associated with the later part of the Archaic age are the black-figure pottery, which originates in Corinth during the seventh century BCE and its successor, the red-figure style, which the Andokides Painter will develop in about 530 BCE.

Periander, the second tyrant of Corinth, had in 627 succeeded the first tyrant, his father, Cypselus.

He has upgraded Corinth's port, and built a ramp across the Isthmus of Corinth so that ships could be dragged across (the Diolkos), avoiding the sea route around the Peloponnese.

The money gained from the diolkos allows Periander to abolish taxes in Corinth.

However, Periander will later be considered the typical evil tyrant (for example, by Aristotle).

Herodotus will later write that Periander had learned his "savagery" from Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, who had instructed Periander to get rid of anyone who could conceivably take power from him.

Among his acts are sending young boys from Corcyra to be castrated in Lydia (who are reputed to have escaped and be rescued by the Samians), and the murder (and possible necrophiliac rape) of his own wife, Melissa.

Their son Lycophron had discovered that his father was the murderer, so Periander had exiled him from Corinth and forbidden any of his subjects to shelter him.

Periander had later tried to reconcile with Lycophron, but Lycophron had refused to return unless Periander abdicated.

The inhabitants of Corcyra killed LycophronH, however, to prevent Periander from arriving.

Periander, a more ruthless and authoritarian tyrant than his father, nevertheless establishes Corinth’s prosperity by efficient administration and the founding of several colonies.

Listed by most authors as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Periander also, according to Herdotus, holds the famous musical contest that is won by the poet Arion, who shapes the lyric form known as the dithyramb into a literary composition.

Periander, a more ruthless and authoritarian tyrant than his father, establishes Corinth's prosperity by efficient administration and the founding of several colonies.

Despite these accomplishments, the chief source of Corinth's wealth remains its possession of the isthmus, which controls not only the land traffic between Attica and the Peloponnese but also the traffic between the Aegean and Ionian seas by way of the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs.

Periander facilitates the transit of ships and cargoes, which are hauled overland from gulf to gulf, by building a stone roadway between them, thus sparing seafarers the arduous voyage around the southern tip of the Peloponnese.

Corinth by this time has harbors on both gulfs that flank it, Lechaeum on the Gulf of Corinth and Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf.

Corinth's colonial expansion under the tyrants is extended along the Adriatic and into Macedonia.

The biennial Isthmian Games, featuring competitions in athletics, horse racing, oratory, and music, begin about 589.

Legend traces the origin of the spring games, held on the Isthmus of Corinth at the Sanctuary of Poseidon, either to Sisyphus, king of Corinth, or to Theseus, king of Athens.

Periander of Corinth will later be considered the typical evil tyrant (for example, by Aristotle).

Herodotus says he learned his "savagery" from Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, who instructed Periander to get rid of anyone who could conceivably take power from him.

Among his acts were sending young boys from Corcyra to be castrated in Lydia (who are reputed to have escaped and be rescued by the Samians), and the murder (and possible necrophiliac rape) of his own wife, Melissa.

Abhorrence for this act was so intense that it was described only metaphorically at the time: "Periander baked his bread in a cold oven" (Herodotus, V 91-93).

Their son Lycophron discovered that his father was the murderer, so Periander exiled him from Corinth and forbade any of his subjects to shelter him.

Periander later tried to reconcile with Lycophron, but Lycophron refused to return unless Periander abdicated.

At this point, Periander declared he would abdicate in favor of Lycophron while he would rule Corcyra; however, the inhabitants of Corcyra killed Lycophron to prevent Periander from arriving.

Periander's nephew Psammetichus succeeds him in 585 as tyrant of Corinth but Psammetichus' rule only lasts three years; he is the last of the Cypselid dynasty.

The tyranny of the Cypselids in Corinth is followed in about 550 BCE by an oligarchical government that embarks on a major building program for the city.

Corinth is outstripped by Athens in both seamanship and commerce in the second half of the sixth century, and the bitter commercial rivalry between the two city-states will often generate crises in Greek politics over the next two centuries.