CHAPTER XII. "Corinthus, Achaia caput, Græciæ decus, inter duo maria, Ionium et Ægeum, quasi spectaculo exposita."-Florus, ii. 16. THE ISTHMUS.-EARLY HISTORY OF CORINTH.-ITS TRADE AND WEALTH.CORINTH UNDER THE ROMANS.-PROVINCE OF ACHAIA.-GALLIO THE GOVERNOR. TUMULT AT CORINTH.-CENCHREÆ.-VOYAGE BY EPHESUS TO CÆSAREA.-VISIT TO JERUSALEM.-ANTIOCH. Now that we have entered upon the first part of the long series of St. Paul's letters, we seem to be arrived at a new stage of the Apostle's biography. The materials for a more intimate knowledge are before us. More life is given to the picture. We have advanced from the field of geographical description and general history to the higher interest of personal detail. Even such details as relate to the writing materials employed in the Epistles, and the mode in which they were transmitted from city to city, all stages in the history of an Apostolic letter, from the hand of the amanuensis who wrote from the author's inspired dictation, to the opening and reading of the document in the public assembly of the Church to which it was addressed, have a sacred claim on the Christian's attention. For the present we must defer the examination of such particulars. We remain with the Apostle himself, instead of following the journey of his letter to Thessalonica, and tracing the effects which the last of them produced. We have before us a protracted residence in Corinth,' a voyage by sea to Syria,' and a journey by land from Antioch to Ephesus,3 before we come to the next group of the Apostle's letters. We must linger first for a time in Corinth, the great city, where he staid a longer time than at any other point on his previous journeys, and from which, or to which, the most important of his Epistles were written.* And, according to the plan we have hitherto observed, we proceed to elucidate its geographical position, and the principal stages of its history. 2 Acts xviii. 18-22. 5 1 Acts xviii. 11-18. 3 Acts xviii. 23. See xix. 1. 4 The Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Romans. 5 Of four German Monographs devoted to this subject we have made use of three: Wilckens' "Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen ad illustrationem utriusque Epistolæ Paulina," 1747; Wagner's "Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen ;" Darmstadt, 1824; Barth's "Corinthiorum Commercii et Mercaturæ Historiæ particula," Berlin, 1844. 410 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. The Isthmus is the most remarkable feature in the geography of Greece; and the peculiar relation which it established between the land and the water-and between the Morea and the Continent-had the utmost effect on the whole course of the history of Greece. When we were considering the topography and aspect of Athens, all the associations which surrounded us were Athenian. Here at the Isthmus, we are, as it were, at the centre of the activity of the Greek race in general. It has the closest connection with all their most important movements, both military and commercial. 3 4 In all the periods of Greek history, from the earliest to the latest, we see the military importance of the Isthmus. The phrase of Pindar' is, that it was the bridge of the sea." It formed the only line of march for an invading or retreating army. Xenophon speaks of it as "the gate of the Peloponnesus," the closing of which would make all ingress and egress impossible. And we find that it was closed at various times, by being fortified and refortified by a wall, some traces of which remain to the present day. In the Persian war, when consternation was spread amongst the Greeks by the death of Leonidas, the wall was first built. In the Peloponnesian war, when the Greeks turned fratricidal arms against each other, the Isthmus was often the point of the conflict between the Athenians and their enemies. In the time of the Theban supremacy, the wall again appears as a fortified line from sea to sea." When Greece became Roman, the Provincial arrangements neutralized, for a time, the military importance of the Isthmus. But when the barbarians poured in from the North, like the Persians of old, its wall was repaired by Valerian. Again it was rebuilt by Justinian, who fortified it with a hundred and fifty towers. And we trace its history through the later period of the Venetian power in the Levant, from the vast works of 1463, to the peace of 1699, when it was made the boundary of the territories of the Republic.s 1 It is from this Greek "bridge of the sca" that the name isthmus has been given to every similar neck of land in the world. See some remarks on this subject, and on the significance of Greek geography in general, in the Classical Museum, No. I., p. 41. 2 Πόντου γεφύρα, Nem. vi. 44. Γεφύραν ποντιάδα πρὸ Κορίνθου τείχεων, Isth. iii. 38. 3 Agesilaus, when he had taken Corinth, is spoken of as ἀναπετάσας τῆς Πελοποννήσου τας πύλας. Xen. Ages. 2. 4 Herod. viii. 71. See Leake's remarks on this carly and rude fortification, and on the remains of the later wall. Travels in the Morea, III. 302-304, also 287. 5 Polyb. ii. 138. See Plutarch's Life of Cleomenes. 6 Ἐπὶ Οὐαλεριανοῦ δὲ καὶ Γαλιηνοῦ πάλιν οἱ Σκύθαι διαβάντες τὸν Ἴστρον ποταμὸν τήν τε Θρᾴκην ἐλήισαν, κ.τ.λ. . . . . Πελοποννήσιοι δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης εἰς θαλάσσαν dè ¿ñò eis Tòv 'Io0μov diεTeixioav. Syncelli Chronog. p. 715, ed. Bonn. See Zonaras. 7 See Phrantzes, pp. 96, 107, 108, 117, &c. of the Bonn. edition. 8 See the notices of the fortress of Hexamilium in Ducas, pp. 142, 223, 519 of the Bonn edition and compare what is said in Dodwell's Travels in Greece, pp. 184–186. The wall was not built in a straight line, but followed the sinuosities of the ground. 3 Conspicuous, both in connection with the military defences of the Isthmus, and in the prominent features of its scenery, is the Acrccorinthus, or ritadel of Corinth, which rises in form and abruptness like the rock of Dumbarton. But this comparison is quite inadequate to express the magnitude of the Corinthian citadel. It is elevated two thousand feet above the level of the sea; it throws a vast shadow 2 across the plain at its base; the ascent is a journey involving some fatigue; and the space of ground on the summit is so extensive, that it contained a whole town, which, under the Turkish dominion, had several mosques. Yet, notwithstanding its colossal dimensions, its sides are so precipitous, that a few soldiers are enough to guard it. The possession of this fortress has been the object of repeated struggles in the latest wars between the Turks and the Greeks, and again between the Turks and the Venetians. It was said to Philip, when he wished to acquire possession of the Morea, that the Acrocorinthus was one of the horns he must scize, in order to secure the heifer.5 Thus Corinth might well be called "the eye of Greece" in a military sense, as Athens has often been so called in another sense. If the rock of Minerva was the Acropolis of the Athenian people, the mountain of the Isthmus was truly named "the Acropolis of the Greeks."7 4 It will readily be imagined that the view from the summit is magnificent and extensive. A sea is on either hand. Across that which lies on The remains of square towers are visible in some places. The eastern portion abutted on the Sanctuary of Neptune, where the Isthmian games are held. Dodwell. The ascent is by a zigzag road, which Strabo says was thirty stadia in length. 2 "Qua summas caput Acrocorinthus in auras Stat. vii. 107. Compare the expression of Dr. Clarke: "Looking down upon the isthmus, the shadow of the Acrocorinthus, of a conical shape, extended exactly half across its length, the point of the cone being central between the two seas." 3 Dodwell and Clarke. The city, according to Xenophon, was forty stadia in circumference without the Acropolis, and eighty-five with it. Hell. iv. 4, 11. 4 See Plutarch, who says, in the Life of Aratus, that it was guarded by 400 soldiers, 50 dogs and as many keepers. 5 Polyb. vii. 505. 6 Cicero (Off. ii. 22) calls it "Græciæ lumen." For the application of the same phrase to Athens in another sense, see the last chapter but one. 7 This expression ('E22úvwv áкрóñоλç) is used of it in the Scholiast on Pindar. Ol. xiii. 32. • Strabo had visited Corinth himself, and his description of the view shows that he had seen it. Wheler's description is as follows:-"We mounted to the top of the highest point, and had one of the most agreeable prospects in the world. On the right hand of us the Saronic Gulf, with all its little islands strewed up and down it, to Cape Colonne on the Promontory Sunium. Beyond that the islands of the Archipelago seemed to close up the mouth of the Gulf. On the left hand of us we had the Gulf of Lepanto or Corinth, as far as beyond Sicyon, bounded northward with all these famous 412 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. the east, a clear sight is obtained of the Acropolis of Athens, at a distance of forty-five miles. The mountains of Attica and Boeotia, and the islands of the Archipelago, close the prospect in this direction. Beyond the western sea, which flows in from the Adriatic, are the large masses of the mountains of north-eastern Greece, with Parnassus towering above Delphi. Immediately beneath us is the narrow plain which separates the seas. The city itself is on a small table land of no great elevation, connected with the northern base of the Acrocorinthus. At the edge of the lower level are the harbours which made Corinth the emporium of the richest trade of the East and the West. 3 2 We are thus brought to that which is really the characteristic both of Corinthian geography and Corinthian history, its close relation to the commerce of the Mediterranean. Plutarch says, that there was a want of good harbours in Achaia; and Strabo speaks of the circumnavigation of the Morea as dangerous. Cape Malca was proverbially formidable, and held the same relation to the voyages of ancient days, which the Cape of Good Hope does to our own. Thus, a narrow and level isthmus, across which smaller vessels could be dragged from gulph to gulph," was of inesti 4 6 mountains of old times, with the Isthmus, even to Athens, lying in a row, and presenting themselves orderly to our view. The plain of Corinth towards Sicyon or Basilico is well watered by two rivulets, well-tilled, well-planted with oliveyards and vineyards, and, having many little villages scattered up and down it, is none of the least of the ornaments of this prospect. The town also that lieth north of the Castle, in little knots of houses, surrounded with orchards and gardens of oranges, lemons, citrons, and cypress-trees, and mixed with corn-fields between, is a sight not less delightful. So that it is hard to judge whether this plain is more beautiful to the beholders or profitable to the inhabitants." This was in 1675, before the last conflicts of the Turks and Venetians. Compare Dr. Clarke's description. He was not allowed, however, by the Turkish authorities, to reach the summit. Wagner alludes in terms of praise to Pouqueville's description. It may be seen in his Travels, ch. vii. 1 Dodwell (ii. 189., whose view was from an eminence to the S. W., from whence Mohammed II. reduced the Acrocorinth in 1458. Compare Clarke: "As from the Parthenon at Athens we had seen the citadel of Corinth, so now we had & commanding view, across the Saronic Gulf, of Salamis and the Athenian Acropolis." See above, under Athens. 2 * Τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἄρκτον μέρος ̓Ακροκορίνθου ἐστὶ τὸ μάλιστα ὀρθίον· ὑφ ̓ ᾧ κεῖται ἡ πόλις τραπεζώδους επὶ χωρίου πρὸς αὐτῇ τῇ ῥιζῇ τοῦ ̓Ακροκορίνθου. Strabo. Leake's description entirely corresponds with this, p. 251. 3 Plut. Ar. 9. Barth patriotically compares the relation of Corinth to Greece with that of Hamburg to Germany: "Erat igitur hæc Corinthi ratio similis ei, quæ interest Hamburgho cum reliqua Germania," p. 6, note. He adds that the Sicilian sea was avoided by mariners as much as possible. 5 The proverb concerning Malea in its Latin form was "Ubi Maleam flexeris, obliviscere quæ sunt domi." • See above, note on the word "Isthmus." 7 Hence the narrowest part of the Isthmus was called dioλkoç, a word which in meaning and in piratic associations corresponds with the Tarbat of Scotch geography. The distance across is about three miles; nearer Corinth it is six miles, whence the name of the modern village of Hexamili. 4 COIN OF CORINTH.1 2 mable value to the early traders of the Levant. And the two harbours, which received the ships of a more maturely developed trade,-Cenchreæ * on the Eastern Sea, and Lechæum3 on the Western, with a third and smaller port, called Schoenus, where the isthmus was narrowest,—form an essential part of our idea of Corinth. Its common title in the poets is "the city of the two seas." It is allegorically represented in art as a female figure on a rock, between two other figures, each of whom bears a rudder, the symbol of navigation and trade. It is the same image which appears under another form in the words of the rhetorician, who said that it was the prow and the stern of Greece.” 6 As we noticed above a continuous fortress which was carried across the Isthmus, in connection with its military history, so here we have to mention another continuous work which was attempted, in connection with its mercantile history. This was the ship-canal;--which, after being often projected, was about to be begun again about the very time of St. Paul's visit. Parallels often suggest themselves between the relation of the parts of the Mediterranean to each other, and those of the Atlantic and Pacific: for the basins of the "Midland Sea" were to the Greek and Roman trade, what the Oceanic spaces are to ours. And it is Millingen. Sylloge of Ancient Unedited Coins, PI. II. No. 30. 2 For Cenchreæ, see below. It was seventy stadia from the city. 3 Lechæum was united to Corinth by long walls. It was about twelve stadia distant from the city. Strabo, and Xen. Hellen. iv. 4 and Agesel. See Leake, p. 251. • Schoenus was at the point where the Isthmus was narrowest, close to the Sanctuary of Neptune and the eastern portion of the Isthmian wall. The ship is described as sailing to this port in the early times when Athens had the presidency of the games. 5 The "bimaris Corinthus" of Horace and Ovid. See Hor. Od. 1. vii. 2. Ov. Her. xii. 27. So Julius Pollux calls it àμpıláhaocos. Compare Eurip. Troad. 1997: εíñoρον κορυφὼν Ισθμιον. • The phrase seems to have been proverbial. Υμεῖς ἐστε τὸ δὴ γεγόμενον πρώρα καὶ πρúμνа τǹs 'Еλ2údos. Dio Chrys. Orat. xxxvii. 464. 7 Demetrius Poliorcetes, Julius Cæsar, and Caligula had all entertained the notion of cutting through the Isthmus. Nero really began the undertaking in the year 52, but soon desisted. See Leake (pp. 297-302), who quotes all the authorities. The portion of the trench which remains is at the narrowest part, near the shore of the Corinthian Gulf. Dodwell came upon it, after crossing Mount Gerancia from Attica. P. 183. |