Its twin ports, one on the Aegean Sea and one on the Ionian side enabled it to trade throughout the Mediterranean.
The area of ancient Corinth was occupied continuously from the Late Neolithic period through the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Ancient Corinth was an independent city-state governed by a constitution based on oligarchy, which flourished during the time of overthrow of the tyrants.
The city’s peak of prosperity came in the 600s and early 500s BC when its international shipping network came to dwarf those of other mainland Greek cities.
Although it lost this preeminence to Athens in the fifth century BC, Corinth remained a center for commerce and luxury throughout ancient history.
After the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, and following the defeat of Athens and Thebes, Corinth was chosen by Philip II of Macedon as the locale for the great conference he called to decide the future relationship between the Greek cities and himself; the result is popularly known as the league of Corinth.
Corinth flourished under Macedon rule, but it was sacked by the Roman consul Mummius in 146 BC for rebelling against Roman rule. Mummius sold its inhabitants into slavery as an example to other Greek cities of how Rome would response to opposition of its hegemony in Achaea.
In 44 BC Julius Caesar began rebuilding the city and it again became a prosperous port.
By the 2nd century AD, Corinth was much larger and more powerful than Athens, but during the next hundred years a series of barbarian invasion and attacks undermined the city’s prosperity.
Ancient Corinth
