Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta.

In ancient times, Corinth was one of the largest and wealthiest city-states in Greece, with two major ports, one on the Corinthian Gulf and one on the Saronic Gulf. The extensive remains, mostly dating from the Roman period, are dominated by the ruins of the Temple of Apollo.

The remains of the ancient city lie about 50 miles west of Athens, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth, on a terrace some 300 feet  above sea level. The ancient city grew up at the base of the citadel of the Acrocorinthus a Gibraltar-like eminence rising 1,886 feet above sea level. The Acrocorinthus lies about 1.5 miles  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 gave Corinth great strategic and commercial importance in ancient times.

The city was connected with its principal port, Lechaeum, by two parallel walls and a paved highway which led to the propylaea, the entrance to the agora (the city’s main marketplace). Modern Corinth, three miles northeast of the site of ancient Corinth, was founded in 1858 after an earthquake leveled the latter. It is primarily a hub of communications between northern and southern Greece and is the primary point of export for local fruit, raisins, and tobacco.

Points of Interest

Corinth canal Peloponnese Argos Nafplio Mystras Olympia Epidaurus Mycenae Rion Mani Monemvasia Messinia Kalamata Pylos Kyllini

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