This book addresses cult and religion in the city of Corinth from the 4th to 7th centuries of our era. The work incorporates and synthesizes all available evidence, literary, archaeological and other. The interaction and conflict between Christian and non-Christian activity is placed into its urban context and seen as simultaneously existing and overlapping cultural activity. Late antique religion is defined as cult-based rather than doctrinally-based, and thus this volume focuses not on what people believed, but rather what they did. An emphasis on cult activity reveals a variety of types of interaction between groups, ranging from confrontational events at dilapidated polytheist cult sites, to full polysemous and shared cult activity at the so-called "Fountain of the Lamps". Non-Christian traditions are shown to have been recognized and viable through the sixth century. The tentative conclusion is drawn that a clear definition of "pagan" and "Christian" begins at an urban level with the Christian re-monumentalization of Corinth with basilicas. The disappearance of "pagan" cult is best attributed to the development of a new city socially and physically based in Christianity, rather than any purely "religious" development.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts of Corinth *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Modern perceptions of Classical Greece are almost invariably based on Athens and Sparta, but Corinth was also a key city-state in antiquity. When St. Paul visited in 51 CE, the Corinth he saw was actually a relatively new city, having been built a little over 100 years previously, but he found a city five times larger than Athens at that time and one which was the capital of a prosperous province. However, ancient Corinth had actually been founded in the 10th century BCE and was, for most of its history, the richest port and the largest city in all of Greece. Corinth had a population in excess of 90,000 in 400 BCE, but the Romans leveled this original city in 146 BCE, killing all the male inhabitants and selling the women and children into slavery. The few that survived fled to Delos, and for the next 100 years the site was deserted until Julius Caesar rebuilt it in 44 BCE. The story of the rise and fall of this powerful polis is intriguing, as are the reasons for ancient Corinth's reputation throughout the Greek world for its licentiousness. One of the Greek words for fornication was korinthiazomai, and while the city's association with sacred prostitutes scandalized contemporary Athenians in particular, it also made the city a favorite destination for many Greeks. Corinth was also where so much of what became recognized as "Greek art and architecture" was first developed, and it was here that Eastern influence on Greece can first and most obviously be detected. The destruction of ancient Corinth marked the end of free Greece, but despite the integral role it played in Hellas, Corinth has never been recognized as a great military or naval power in the way that Athens and Sparta have. It did not boast any exceptional schools of philosophy, nor are there any great buildings still remaining to attest to its successes. Corinth's contribution to the spread of Greek civilization, however, matches if not surpasses all of the more well-known poleis. Corinth also acted as a gateway for many of the artistic ideas from the East that local artisans adapted and developed to produce their own uniquely Corinthian style of pottery and art. In architecture, too, Corinth's contribution was significant, and the Corinthian style was utilized throughout Greece and the Greek world, especially in relation to temple building. The quintessential Greek ship, the trireme, was first developed in Corinth, and its role in defeating the Persians, a defeat that most historians agree changed world history, is still understated, probably because of the credence given to Herodotus' claims about the Corinthians' behavior in that war. The fact that the city was reestablished by Julius Caesar and, even today, is a highly important center of trade suggests that Corinth was destined to be a hub of trading activity and a prosperous city. Still, the advantages conferred by a favorable geographic position had to be seized, and this ancient Corinth did. Its impact on the ancient Greek world, and hence its influence on Western civilization, should not be underestimated, even as it mostly continues to be. Corinth: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Greek City-State examines the history of one of Greece's most important poleis. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Corinth like never before.

Late antique Corinth was on the frontline of the radical political, economic and religious transformations that swept across the Mediterranean world from the second to sixth centuries CE. A strategic merchant city, it became a hugely important metropolis in Roman Greece and, later, a key focal point for early Christianity. In late antiquity, Corinthians recognised new Christian authorities; adopted novel rites of civic celebration and decoration; and destroyed, rebuilt and added to the city's ancient landscape and monuments. Drawing on evidence from ancient literary sources, extensive archaeological excavations and historical records, Amelia Brown here surveys this period of urban transformation, from the old Agora and temples to new churches and fortifications. Influenced by the methodological advances of urban studies, Brown demonstrates the many ways Corinthians responded to internal and external pressures by building, demolishing and repurposing urban public space, thus transforming Corinthian society, civic identity and urban infrastructure. In a departure from isolated textual and archaeological studies, she connects this process to broader changes in metropolitan life, contributing to the present understanding of urban experience in the late antique Mediterranean.

In the second century A.D., Corinth was the largest city in Roman Greece. A center of learning, culture, and commerce, it served as the capital of the senatorial province of Achaea and was the focus of apostle Paul's missionary activity. Donald Engels's important revisionist study of this ancient urban area is at once a detailed history of the Roman colony and a provocative socioeconomic analysis. With Corinth as an exemplar, Engels challenges the widely held view that large classical cities were consumer cities, innocent of the market forces that shape modern economies. Instead, he presents an alternative model—the "service city." Examining a wealth of archaelogical and literary evidence in light of central place theory, and using sound statistical techniques, Engels reconstructs the human geography of the Corinthia, including an estimate of the population. He shows that—given the amount of cultivatable land—rents and taxes levied onthe countryside could not have supported a highly populated city like Corinth. Neither could its inhabitants have supported themselves directly by farming. Rather, the city constituted a thriving market for domestic, regional, and overseas raw materials, agricultural products, and manufactured goods, at the same time satisfying the needs of those who plied the various land and sea routes that converged there. Corinth provided key governmental and judicial services to the province of Achaea, and its religious festivals, temples, and monuments attracted numerous visitors from all corners of the Roman world. In accounting for the large portion of residents who participated in these various areas outside of the traditional consumer model, Engels reveals the depth and sophistication of the economics of ancient cities. Roman Corinth is a much-needed critique of the currently dominant approach of ancient urbanism. It will be of crucial interest to scholars and students in classics, ancient history, and urban studies.

The Peirene Fountain as described by its first excavator, Rufus B. Richardson, is "the most famous fountain of Greece." Here is a retrospective of a wellspring of Western civilization, distinguished by its long history, service to a great ancient city, and early identification as the site where Pegasus landed and was tamed by the hero Bellerophon. Spanning three millennia and touching a fourth, Peirene developed from a nameless spring to a renowned source of inspiration, from a busy landmark in Classical Corinth to a quiet churchyard and cemetery in the Byzantine era, and finally from free-flowing Ottoman fountains back to the streams of the source within a living ruin. These histories of Peirene as a spring and as a fountain, and of its watery imagery, form a rich cultural narrative whose interrelations and meanings are best appreciated when studied together. The author deftly describes the evolution of the Fountain of Peirene framed against the underlying landscape and its ancient, medieval, and modern settlement, viewed from the perspective of Corinthian culture and spheres of interaction. Published with the assistance of the Getty Foundation. Winner of the 2011 Prose Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in the category of Archaeology/Anthropology. The Prose Awards are given annually by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing division of the American Association of Publishers.

This Companion provides scholarly yet accessible new interpretations of Greek history of the Classical period, from the aftermath of the Persian Wars in 478 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. Topics covered range from the political and institutional structures of Greek society, to literature, art, economics, society, warfare, geography and the environment Discusses the problems of interpreting the various sources for the period Guides the reader towards a broadly-based understanding of the history of the Classical Age