Corinth

Keypoints on this page
	Corinth was a strategic centre of government and commerce.
	The apostle Paul established a Christian church in the city.
	Two thousand years ago Corinth was notorious for vice and depravity.
	With the passage of time, the early Christian church in Corinth departed from their original beliefs.

The present day Greek town of Korinthos can be found about 50 miles (80 kilometres) to the west of Athens, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth. It is situated on the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow land bridge that connects the Peloponnese to central Greece. The remains of the ancient Biblical city of Corinth are nearly 5 kilometres to the southwest of the modern town on a raised terrace area about 90 metres above sea level. The ruined city is spread around the 575 metres high flat-topped mountain called the Acrocorinthus on which stood a citadel that commanded the whole area.

Ruins of the old city of Corinth

It is reckoned that the site has been occupied from about 3,000 BC. Not much is known of its history until the 8th century BC when the city-state of Corinth developed as a commercial centre. The city’s strategic location and the trade that passed through there, made it the target over the centuries of a number of conquests, until in 146 BC the Romans completely destroyed it as their empire expanded, winning more and more territory.

The Greek Empire eventually gave way completely to the Roman Empire and later when Julius Caesar became Emperor, he realised the importance of the position of Corinth and in 44 BC he decided to establish it as a Roman colony. This new colonial settlement brought a wide variety of people to live there.

Many of the new inhabitants were freed slaves, captives from many countries, along with others seeking a better life and fresh opportunities. With this mixture of races and cultures the new colony quickly prospered and later became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Achaia. In many respects Corinth was the most important city in Greece under the Roman Empire.

While Athens was the educational centre, with the greatest university in the world at that time, Corinth, as the capital of the province, became the heart of government and development in the country, with Gallio the Roman proconsul who ruled Achaia, residing there. [Acts 18.12] The time of Gallio’s appointment in Corinth is reliably dated as AD 51–53 by an inscription discovered in 1905 at Delphi.

Ancient Corinth was unique in that it had two ports, one called Cenchrea to the south on the Saronic Gulf and the other north at Lecheum on the Corinthian Gulf. Today a canal cuts through the narrow strip of land that separated these two harbours. In earlier times, before there was a canal, trade flowed across this neck of land by a road (a diolkos), the remains of which can still be seen there today. The cargoes of the larger ships were unloaded and transported over this route to save a dangerous sea journey but smaller vessels were taken out of the water fully loaded and manhandled on rollers over this road from one port to the other.

The Emperor Nero actually started work to cut a canal between the two ports in AD 67, using Jewish slave labour, prisoners from the Judaean revolt of AD 66. However, French and Greek engineers did not construct the present canal until more recent times, starting work in 1881 and completing it in 1893.

It was in the 1st Century AD that Corinth became a biblical city by reason of the fact that the Apostle Paul came to Corinth around AD 51 on the second of his missionary journeys, fulfilling the command personally given to him by Jesus to ‘bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel’ [Acts 9.15 NKJV]. The arrival of Paul in this city with its teeming, multi-racial population of around five hundred thousand, certainly gave him the opportunity to put into effect the directive he had been given as we read in Acts:

‘After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks’ [Acts 18.1-4 NKJV].

Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half and the effect of his preaching led to the conversion of a number of people in the city:

‘Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized’ [Acts 18.8 NKJV].

The turning of numerous citizens of Corinth to Christ led to the setting up of a Christian church in the city, comprising people of many races, cultures and religions, some no doubt rescued from the very dregs of society. This meant that its members were not without problems, as the two letters that Paul had cause to write to them later bear witness. They also tell us a lot about what life was like in Corinth in those times. Some of the things that affected the early church were caused by the deplorable moral standards in Corinth. The city had gained a reputation for vice and depravity throughout the Roman Empire. It was so bad that to call a person a ‘Corinthian’ was an insult; the word referred to ‘gross immorality’.

The various forms of pagan worship practised in Corinth contributed to the corrupt way of life. As an example, the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love that stood on top of the Acrocorinth, had as many as a thousand priestesses or temple prostitutes, whose services were available to all-comers. The money generated by these depraved practices is said to have contributed greatly to the city’s wealth. It was in these surroundings, together with the pagan rituals associated with idol worship, that the early church had to struggle to survive.

Paul had to rebuke the members there for tolerating a case of immorality in their midst, insisting that they expel the culprits from their community. He also had to advise them on the question of eating meat that had been offered to idols. The residue of this meat from the pagan temples, that was probably of the best quality, ended up for sale in the ‘shambles’, or butchers shops, in Corinth and those church members who had converted from paganism and idol worship were upset by others in the brotherhood who were buying and eating it. All these things that Paul had to write about tell us something of the life and culture of Corinth [1 Corinthians 10.25-33].

Besides its commercial importance, Corinth was famous as the scene of the great Isthmian Games which were held there every two years. This event was very popular, second only to the Olympic games. The festival was dedicated to the sea god Poseidon and attracted large audiences who watched the athletic and musical competitions that took place. It is possible that some of the members of the church were at one time associated with the games, either as organisers or contestants. If not, many of them would have witnessed the training and the efforts of the athletes.

Paul, in his letters, uses the examples of the runner and the boxer, their disciplined way of life and dedication, as an ideal for the follower of Christ. At the same time, he pointed out that the competitors did this to obtain the victory prize, a laurel wreath, a corruptible crown. He compares all this striving and effort with the Christian’s way of life and the more worthwhile reward of eternal life offered to them [1 Corinthians 9.24-27].

The influence and growth of Christianity in Corinth is shown by the fact that the Isthmian games and its associated pagan celebrations had died out by the fourth century AD. Unfortunately, as the Roman Empire from the time of the Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the official religion, a gradual process also set in to corrupt true Christianity with some of the pagan rituals and beliefs. This falling away from the first century teaching of Christ and the apostles affected the Corinthian church as much as it did the others until the original doctrines were almost lost and held by only a few believers.

As for Corinth itself, an earthquake destroyed the ancient city in 521 AD. The area has, over the course of time, been occupied by many conquerors. The city declined in importance, eventually being reduced to a country town. The ruins of the city began to come to the notice of the modern world when archaeological excavations began in 1896, revealing the culture and lost splendour of a city that was once graced by the presence of that faithful teacher of God’s Word, the Apostle Paul.