Pictures:
1. The Corinth Canal. The sides are solid limestone.
2. Acrocorinth is the set of buildings near the left side of the granite outcropping.
3. This mosaic of Dionysus was from a Roman villa floor constructed during the Third Century BC
4. These are the somewhat unusual blue and tan jars from Corinth.
5. They also came in this darker tan and blue.
6. The Temple of Apollo, the main Greek structure left in Corinth. Before excavation began those pillars were the only part of the city above ground.
7. This is the Bema, the place where civil judgments and contest rewards were given.
8. This is the Spring of Peiene. The pool in the center was filled with water. There are columned alcoves all around with access to the water April 26 – Piraeus-Corinth, Greece. Most of the passengers are headed to Athens but we have been there several times, I lived in Greece for 18 months in the late '60s. We're headed to Corinth instead.
While driving out of Piraeus we went between two sites from the Greek Olympics, the outdoor stadium and the indoor arena. Our first stop was at the Corinth Canal. It's located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece near place where the peninsula is the narrowest with the Saronic Gulf on the west and the Gulf of Corinth on the east. As early as the Seventh Century BC when the locals built a road across this 4-mile strip of land for the portage of boats. Ships would dock on one end of the road, be unloaded unto wagons, hauled up onto special wheeled platforms and hauled along with the cargo to the other end of the road where they were set afloat and reloaded to continue their trip. This saved them the 190-mile trip around the Peloponnesia and a significant amount of time.
The idea of a canal is ancient and there were studies by Julius Caesar and emperors Caligula and Hadrian (talk about polar opposite people) but no action. In sixty-seven AD Nero came to the area to take part in the games he kicked off construction by holding ostentatious ceremonies during which he dug the first shovel full of dirt with a golden spade. Three months later the work stopped when he died. The job was finally completed between 1881-1893 by Trikoupis, a Greek, with the help of French Company. It's a sea level canal, no locks, and very short. This probably explains why the French were able to build it but failed in Panama. This might make the Greco-Roman project the longest running construction job in history, eighteen centuries. We stopped near a bridge over the canal so we could walk out to get some good shots of the canal. They have bungee (they spell it bungy) jumping off the bridge but, darn, it was closed. After about a 45-minute stay we boarded the bus for the rest of the trip.
The city of Corinth had two parts, Ancient Corinth on the plains at the foot of the mountains and Acrocorinth on the mountaintop nearby. We don't have enough time to get up there but will be visiting Ancient Corinth and its museum.
Our first stop was the museum on the grounds of the ancient ruins. It's not a large place but it is well organized and interesting. When you enter you are in an open courtyard with a surrounding veranda on all sides. In the open area they display some marble statuary and around the veranda on the walls and under the porch they have sarcophagi, statues, friezes and wall carvings. Some are in a very fine state of preservation and some have been partially reconstructed. Several of them were remarkable. One showed a lion part way up a palm tree eating dates. Another shows a soldier grasping the hair of a kneeling woman captive. One sarcophagus was carved to look like a tile roof with a large garland of fruit, vegetables and grains draped across the lid with a small cherub holding it at the center.
Inside the museum they had displays of mosaics, pottery, statues, friezes and busts. One mosaic floor that's 99% intact shows the head of Dionysus in the center of a circular geometric pattern with four urns with grape vines growing in them. Some of the pottery was exceptional. Some were decorated with geometric patterns including the Greek Key; some had pictures of animals, birds or people. The main colors are tan, black and blue. The tan and blue pottery was especially pretty. Unfortunately all the pottery was behind glass and the reflections were awful. Not many pictures possible.
I'm much happier out among the ruins than I ever am inside a museum. I try to imagine the daily lives of the people that lived in them, the events that shaped their lives and the changes in the area over the years.
Like many spots in Europe, this site has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, about 5000BC. Fresh water was abundant here and that made life easier. The plain below the foothills is fertile and easy to cultivate. It also controlled the route overland from mainland Greece to the Peloponnesian Peninsula, as it's located on the narrowest part of the peninsula. By the time the Apostle Paul visited here in 51AD it had passed through many hands including the Greeks to wind up as a Roman settlement. Most of the remaining ruins are Roman but a few Greek structures remain.
As you approach the ruins the first thing you see is one of those Greek buildings, the Temple of Apollo. It stands on the highest part of the city and seven of its tall columns are standing, five of them with their connecting lintels. These Doric columns were the only part of the city that was still visible before excavations commenced. Excavation started in 1982 and continues to this day.
During the Roman period Corinth was the capitol of the Province of Achaia. Most of the Roman buildings were later modified by other residents like the Byzantines. The public area of the town was about 500 meters by 500 meters and in that area there were nine temples. Only the temples of Apollo and Tyche have been positively identified. Of the other seven, one is to the Unknown God and the other six have two possibilities each. The Romans had a sort of catch all temple, dedicated to the Unknown God. Just in case they had overlooked a god, they didn't want to tick him or her off. Paul talked about when he was in Athens. He noted that they had such a temple and proceeded to tell them about who that God was (Acts 17:23ff). Apparently they had a similar temple here. To say that the Romans were superstitious would be an understatement.
The city had the usual memorials, public baths and fountains. One structure was of significant Biblical importance, the bema. This is where victors would be brought to judge their performance. It was not a place to determine if they won or lost but rather how well they had done and what their reward should be. It was the bema that Paul referred to when he talked about the judgment seat for believers. That's how he differentiated this judgment from the Great White Throne judgment of non-believers. This is a critical theological distinction that is often overlooked. Paul spent at least 18 months here teaching in the synagogue.
It was an interesting place to visit but it's not one of those places that continually beckon you back like Rome, Ephesus or Knossos but I'm glad I saw it.
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