High stakes at Corinth

When Philip was proclaimed leader of all the Greeks at Corinth, he was clever enough to insert a clause in the treaty-making his title hereditary. Each state individually had sworn not to harm any other member of the Common Peace and not to interfere in their internal affairs. They also had sworn not to become allies with any foreign power that could damage any member of the Treaty. No member could undertake any operation that might endanger the peace or overthrow its constitution. The then assembled council or synedrion at Corinth was the final authority to settle any dispute between individuals or between member states. They had to help each other if one of the members was attacked but were not allowed to accept support from foreign powers.

This means that after the assassination of Philip in 336 BC it was one of Alexander’s priorities to be accepted and confirmed as Hegemon of this League of Corinth.

Walking around the impressive remains of Corinth crowned by the Temple of Apollo which Alexander saw in all its glory, makes you wonder where these meetings took place. The most obvious location would be the theatre rebuilt early 4^th century BC on the foundations of an older one from the 5^th century BC. This theater could seat around 15,000 spectators but there is very little left of this building. There also is a Bouleuterion behind the Agora to consider but this turns out to be a Roman construction that didn’t exist in Philip’s days.

The Lechaion Street which connected the center of Corinth to the western harbor of the same name is one of the highlights of the city. In recent years, expert divers have been exploring the very harbor of Lechaion to expose the infrastructure of this important port city, locating two monumental piers built of ashlar blocks next to a smaller dock. They also found a canal entrance leading into Lechaion’s three inner harbors, as well as a breakwater.

Lechaion was only one of Corinth’s harbors as the city is strategically straddling the isthmus between mainland Greece and the Peloponnesus (less than 4 miles wide), which means that they needed both an eastern and a western harbor. Lechaion, on the Gulf of Corinth, served the western sea routes to Italy, Sicily, and beyond to Spain. The harbor of Kenchreai gave access to the Saronic Gulf from where the ships sailed to and from the Aegean, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt. Goods could be transported overland from one port to the other as lightweight ships were hauled using a platform along the road connecting Lechaion to Kenchreai. This was before Nero planned to dig a canal meant to link both sides, a plan that eventually materialized two thousand years later. The remains of Kenchreai Street are not as impressive as Lechaion Street which is tucked away behind the shops of the Agora but both were familiar to Alexander.

The Temple of Apollo certainly is the main landmark. It is built in Doric order, counting 6x15 columns, seven of which are still standing and define the skyline of Corinth. Rather unique is the fact that the columns are monolithic and stand more than seven meters tall. It is here that the slight convex floor to support the temple’s columns has been implemented for the first time antedating the much-praised concept for the Parthenon in Athens! There is no trace of the bronze statue of Apollo that once stood inside the temple as mentioned by Pausanias.

Another unmistakable feature in Corinth is the Fountain of Peirene built in the late 6^th century BC and enhanced many times, especially by the Romans in the 2^nd century AD. Much older, and probably built together with the Temple of Apollo is the adjacent Fountain of Glauke, an inelegant cube of about 7.5 meters. Inside is a succession of reservoirs with a total capacity of approximately 527 m3. Water management in antiquity was far more sophisticated than generally admitted.

Since its early beginning, Corinth was a booming trading hub in the eastern Mediterranean and has lots to tell. For more than one thousand years, roughly from the 6^th century BC till the 6^th century AD, the city was at the center of all trade carried out by its mixed population of Greeks, Romans, and Jews, and later by early Christians as well. The importance of this city cannot be stressed enough and few people know about the many colonies Corinth founded all over the Mediterranean. As early as 733 BC, the first such colonies were established at Corcyra (Corfu) and Syracuse (Sicily). Less than a century later, many more settlements followed like Epidamnus (Dϋrres) and Apollonia (Fier) both in Illyria, modern Albania, as well as Potidaea in Chalcidice, Greece. Corinth was also one of the co-founders of Naucratis in ancient Egypt. These facts alone prove the overall importance of the city which rivaled Athens and Thebes.

It is not difficult to imagine the hustle and bustle of people in Alexander’s days, merchants talking feverishly with buyers and sellers, while seafarers were seeking the distractions common to every port - temples, taverns, and brothels are the same all over the world. Sacrifices to the local and foreign gods were being made to thank them for their safe arrival and to pray for a safe journey onward. Corinth certainly was no exception.

If the story is true, it was here that Alexander met Diogenes (see: Alexander meeting Diogenes in Corinth). This Cynic philosopher originated from the Black Sea and died in Corinth the same year as Alexander, in 323 BC. Diogenes’ own writings have not survived but were known by his disciple Onesicritus who accompanied Alexander on his Asian campaigns. It may be thanks to him and Ptolemy that his philosophy slipped into the later Alexander Romance.