a celebrated city of antiquity, for some time the most illustrious of all the Greek cities. It is said to have been founded 1514 years before Christ, by Sisyphus the son of Eolus, and grandfather of Ulysses. Various reasons are given for its name, but most authors derive it from Corinthia the son of Peleus. It was situated in the south part of the Isthmus which joins the Peloponnesus, now the Morea, to the continent. It consisted of a citadel built upon an eminence, and thence named Acrocorinthus; besides which it had two maritime towns subject to it, named Lechaeum and Cenchreae. The whole state extended scarce half a degree in length or breadth; but to advantageously were the above-mentioned ports situated, that they might have gained the Corinthians a superiority, if not a command, over all Greece, had not their advantageous situation inclined them to commerce rather than war. For their citadel was almost impregnable; and, commanding both the Ionian and Aegean seas, they could easily cut off all communication from one half of Greece with the other; for which reason this city was called one of the fettters of Greece.

But as the genius of the Corinthians led them to commerce rather than martial exploits, their city became the finest in all Greece. It was adorned with the most sumptuous buildings, as temples, palaces, theatres, porticoes, &c. all of them enriched with a beautiful kind of columns, which from the city were called Corinthian. But though the Corinthians seldom or never engaged in a war with a view of enlarging, but rather of defending, their little state, they did not forget to cultivate a good discipline both in time of peace and of war. Hence many brave and experienced generals have been furnished by Corinth to the other Grecian cities, and it was not uncommon for the latter to prefer a Corinthian general to any of their own.

This city continued to preserve its liberty till the year before Christ 146, when it was pillaged and burnt by the Romans. It was at that time the strongest place in the world; but the inhabitants were so disheartened by a preceding defeat, and the death of their general, that they had not presence of mind enough even to shut their gates. The Roman consul, Mummius, was so much surprised at this, that at first he could scarce believe it; but afterwards fearing an ambuscade, he advanced with all possible caution. As he met with no resistance, his soldiers had nothing to do but destroy the few inhabitants who had not fled, and plunder the city. Such of the men as had staid, were all put to the sword, and the women were sold for slaves. After this the city was ransacked by the greedy soldiers, and the spoils of it are said to have been immense. There were more vessels of all sorts of metal, more fine pictures, and statues done by the greatest masters, in Corinth, than in any other city in the world. All the princes of Europe and Asia, who had any taste in painting and sculpture, furnished themselves here with their richest moveables: here were cast the finest statues for temples and palaces, and all the liberal arts brought to their greatest perfection. Many inestimable pieces of the most famous painters and statuaries fell into the hands of the ignorant soldiers, who either destroyed them or parted with them for a trifle. Polybius the historian was an eye-witness to this barbarism of the Romans. He had the mortification to see two of them playing at dice on a famous picture of Ariadne, which was accounted one of the wonders of the world. The piece was a Bacchus, so exquisitely done, that it was proverbially said of any extraordinary performance, "It is as well done as the Bacchus of Ariadne." This masterly piece of painting, however, the soldiers willingly exchanged for a more convenient table to play upon: but when the spoils of Corinth were put up to sale, Attalus, king of Pergamus offered for it 600,000 sesterces, near 5000l. of our money. Mummius was surprized at such a high price offered for a picture, and imagined there must be some magical virtue in it. He therefore interposed his authority, and carried it to Rome, notwithstanding the complaints of Attalus. Here this famous picture was lodged in the temple of Ceres, where it was at last destroyed by fire, together with the temple. Another extraordinary instance of the stupidity of Mummius is, that when the pictures were put on board the transports, he told the masters of the vessels very seriously, that if any of the things were either lost or spoiled, he would oblige them to find others at their own cost; as if any other pieces could have supplied the loss of those ineffable originals, done by the greatest masters in Greece. When the city was thoroughly pillaged, fire was set to all the corners of it at the same time. The flames grew more violent as they drew near the centre, and at last uniting there made one prodigious conflagration. At this time the famous metallic mixture is said to have been made, which could never afterwards be imitated by art. The gold, silver, and brass, which the Corinthians had concealed, were melted, and ran down the streets in streams, and when the flames were extinguished, a new metal was found, composed of several different ones, and greatly esteemed in after ages.

The town lay desolate until Julius Caesar settled there a Roman colony; when, in moving the rubbish and digging, many vases were found of brass or earth finely embossed. The price given for these curiosities excited industry in the new inhabitants. They left no burying-place unexamined; and Rome, it is said, was filled with the furniture of the sepulchres of Corinth.

Strabo was at Corinth soon after its restoration by the Romans. He describes the site as follows. "A lofty mountain, in perpendicular height as much as three stadia and a half (near half a mile), the ascent 30 stadia (3½ miles), ends in a pointed summit called Acrocorinthus. Of this the portion to the north is the most steep; beneath which lies the city on a level area, at the foot of the Acrocorinthus. The circuit of the city alone has been 40 stadia (5 miles), and as much of it as was unsheltered by the mountain has been walled about. Within the inclosure was comprehended also the Acrocorinthus, where the mountain was capable of receiving a wall; and as we ascended, the vestiges were plain; so that the whole circumference exceeded 85 stadia (near 11 miles). On the other sides, the mountain is less steep, but rises very high, and is visible all around. Upon the summit is a small temple of Venus; and below it the spring Pirene, which does not overflow, but is always full of pellucid and potable water. They say it unites with some other hidden veins, and forms the spring at the mountain foot, running into the city, and affording a sufficient supply for the use of the inhabitants. In the city is plenty of wells, and in the Acrocorinthus, as they say, for we did not see any. There they relate the winged horse Pegasus was taken as he was drinking, by Bellerophon. Below Pirene is the Siphnium, some temple or palace of white stone, the remains not inconsiderable. From the summit is beheld to the north Parnassus and Helicon, lofty mountains covered with snow; and below both, to the west, the Cretan gulph bounded by Phocis, by Boeotia and the Megarian and by Corinthia and Sicyonia opposite to Phocis. Beyond all these are the mountains called the Oenian, stretching as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron from the Scironian rocks on the road to Attica." Strabo saw likewise Cleonae from thence. Cenchrea was then a village. Lechaeum had some inhabitants.

New Corinth had flourished 217 years when it was visited by Pausanias. It had then a few antiquities, many temples and statues, especially about the Agora or market-place, and several baths. The Emperor Hadrian introduced water from a famous spring at Stymphalus in Arcadia; and it had various fountains alike copious and ornamental. The stream of one issued from a dolphin, on which was a brazen Neptune; of another, from the hoof of Pegasus, on whom Bellerophon was mounted. On the right hand, coming along the road leading from the marketplace toward Sicyon, was the Odium and the theatre, by which was a temple of Minerva. The old Gymnasium was at a distance. Going from the market-place toward Lechaeum was a gate, on which were placed Phaeton and the Sun in gilded chariots. Pirene entered a fountain of white marble, from which the current passed in an open channel. They supposed the metal called Corinthian brass to have been immersed while red hot in this water. On the way up to the Acrocorinthus were temples, statues, and altars; and the gate next Tenea, a village with a temple of Apollo sixty stadia, or seven miles and a half distant, on the road to Mycenae. At Lechaeum was a temple and a brazen image of Neptune. At Cenchrea were temples; and by the way from the city a grove of cypresses, sepulchres, and monuments. Opposite was the Bath of Helen, water tepid and fit, flowing plentifully from a rock into the sea. Mummius had ruined the theatre of Corinth, and the munificence of the great Athenian Atticus Herodes was displayed in an edifice with a roof inferior to few of the most celebrated structures in Greece.

The Roman colony was referred to suffer the same calamity as the Greek city, and from a conqueror more terrible than Mummius, Alaric the savage destroyer of Athens and universal Greece. In a country harassed with frequent wars, as the Peloponnesus has since been, the Acrocorinthus was a post too consequential to be neglected. It was besieged and taken in 1459 by Mahomet II.; the despots or lords of the Morea, brothers of the Greek emperor who was killed in defending Constantinople, refusing payment of the arrears of the tribute, which had been imposed by Sultan Morat in 1447. The country became subject to the Turks, except such maritime places as were in the possession of the Venetians; and many of the principal inhabitants were carried away to Constantinople. Corinth, with the Morea, was yielded to the republic at the conclusion of the war in 1698, and again by it to the Turks in 1715.

Corinth retains its old name, and is of considerable extent, standing on high ground, beneath the Acrocorinthus, with an easy descent toward the gulph of Lepanto; the houses scattered or in parcels, except in the Bazar or market-place. Cypresses, among which tower the domes of mosques, with corn-fields, and gardens of lemon and orange-trees, are interspersed. The air is reputed bad in summer, and in autumn exceedingly unhealthy. Wheler relates, that from the top of the Acrocorinthus or Citadel, he enjoyed one of the most agreeable prospects which this world can afford. He guessed the walls to be about two miles in compass, inclosing mosques, with houses and churches mostly in ruins. An hour was consumed in going up on horseback. It was a mile to the foot of the hill; and from thence the way was very steep, with many traverses. The families living below were much infested by corsairs, and on every alarm flocked up to the castle.

According According to Dr Chandler, Corinth has preserved but few monuments of its Greek or Roman citizens. The chief remains, he informs us, are at the southwest corner of the town, and above the bazar or market; 11 columns supporting their architraves, of the Doric order, fluted, and wanting in height near half the common proportion to the diameter. Within them, toward the western end, is one taller, though not entire, which it is likely contributed to sustain the roof. They have been found to be stone, not marble; and appear brown, perhaps from a crust formed on the outside. The ruin he judges to be of very remote antiquity, and a portion of a fabric erected not only before the Greek city was destroyed, but before the Doric order had attained to maturity. He suspects it to have been the Siphium mentioned by Strabo. North of the Bazar stands a large mass of brick-work, a remnant, it may be conjectured, of a bath or of the Gymnasium.

The inhabitants are most of them Christians of the Greek church, who are allowed liberty of conscience by the Turks. E. Long. 28. 13. N. Lat. 38. 14.

Corinth, (the isthmus of), in the Morea, is a neck of land which joins the Morea to Greece, and reaches from the gulph of Lepanto to that of Egina. Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero, attempted to cut a channel through it, but in vain; and they therefore afterwards built a wall across it, which they called Hexamilion, because it was six miles in length. This was demolished by Amurat II. and afterwards rebuilt by the Venetians, but was levelled a second time by Mahomet II.