ISTHMUS OF CORINTH
Corinthia, Greece.
Neck of land, 5,857 m wide at its narrowest point, joining the Peloponnesos to the mainland of Greece. Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery discovered in several places
there shows early occupation of the area. East of it an
inscribed stele marked the boundary between Corinth
and Megara. Mythology tells of a dispute between Poseidon and Helios for possession of the land; Briareos, who
was appointed arbitrator, decided in favor of Poseidon.
The Isthmus formed a bridge for land traffic and a
barrier to E-W shipping, and attempts were made early
to facilitate passage from sea to sea. In the 6th c. B.C.
a causeway (diolkos), 3.60-4.20 m wide, was constructed,
the pavement of which has been exposed for a distance
of nearly 1 km near the Corinthian Gulf. On it ships
were hauled on cradles, as shown by deep wheel ruts,
1.50 m apart. The diolkos was still in use in the 9th
c. A.D.
Plans to dig a canal were conceived by Periander,
Demetrios Poliorketes, Julius Caesar, Caligula, Nero, and
Herodes Atticus. Nero broke ground for a canal during
his visit to Greece in A.D. 67. Two of his trenches, 2,000
and 1,500 m long but nowhere reaching water level, and
several pits, 37-42 m deep, were clearly visible before
the modern canal was dug in 1881-93. Traces of Nero's
work still remain.
To protect themselves and the Peloponnesos from attacks by land, the Corinthians fortified the Isthmus. The
earliest of the walls, which dates back to about 1200
B.C., may have been planned to stem the recurrent waves
of “Dorian” invaders at the end of the Mycenaean period. It was probably left unfinished when the decisive
invasion took place. The next line of defense, built in
haste in 480 B.C. against an expected Persian attack
that never materialized, has left no sure traces. There
are extensive remains of a later fortification, built probably in 279 B.C., when the Gauls, who overran the N of
Greece, threatened invasion of the Peloponnesos. This
wall crossed the Isthmus so far to the W as to leave the
Precinct of Poseidon (see Isthmia) and large parts of
Corinthian territory open to the attackers. There are also
references to a wall built in the reign of Valerian (A.D.
253-60). The “Wall of Justinian,” which can be followed
through most of its course, had originally 153 towers on
the N side, spaced at intervals of about 40 m. Near the
E end, close to the Sanctuary of Poseidon, there is a massive fortress whose walls abut against the trans-Isthmus
wall. The fortress and much of the Isthmus wall are
constructed largely out of reused material from the sanctuary. Recent excavations (1967-69) tend to show that
these walls are earlier than Justinian; if this is correct,
they must have been rebuilt during his reign. The fortress
has three gates: the NE Gate, incorporating an earlier
Roman gateway; the S Gate, built or repaired by Justinian's engineer Victorinus; and a smaller gate in the W
wall. Repairs were again made in the reign of Manuel II
(1391-1425). Until the fall of Constantinople in 1453,
the trans-Isthmus wall and the fortress remained a bulwark against invasions from the N.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. H. Jenkins & H. Megaw in
BSA 32
(1931-32) 68-89
PI; H. N. Fowler,
Corinth I: Topography
(1932) 46-71
MPI; N. M. Verdelis in
AthMitt 71 (1956)
51-59
PI; 73 (1958) 140-45
I; A. Philippson-E. Kirsten,
GL III, Part I:
Der Peloponnes (1959); O. Broneer in
Antiquity 32 (1958) 80-88
MI; id.,
Atti del Settimo Congr.
Intern. di Archeologia Class. I (1961) 243-49
MI; id.,
Hesperia 35 (1966) 346-62
MPI; 37 (1968) 25-35
MPI;
J. R. Wiseman in
Hesperia 32 (1963) 248-75
MPI; B. v.
Freyberg,
Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, Heft 95,
Geologie des Isthmus von Korinth (1973). See also
Isthmia, with
Bibliography. O. BRONEER
