Ancient Corinth

The fountain was magnificently rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus in the 2nd Century A.D., with three apses enclosing a square court, and a new façade with six round-arched openings was erected in front of the old front walls of which can still be seen. (The water is now diverted for the use of the village.)

From the Fountain of Peirene, a shallow flight of steps leads up to the north propylon of the Agora, a large area (255m/837ft by 127m/417ft) surrounded by colonnades which was the hub of the city's political and economic life. At the lower east end the paving of the Greek period has been preserved, but otherwise the remains are almost entirely Roman. Along the south side runs the South Stoa, 165m/541ft long, with 33 shops. The third room from the east, covered by a protective roof, contains a Roman mosaic pavement and is at present used as a store for the tiled roof structure of a cult building. Behind the South Stoa is the South Basilica, and at its east end are the Southeast Building and the Basilica Iulia, built by the Emperor Claudius about A.D. 45.

Parallel to the South Stoa, running from end to end of the Agora, are the "Central Shops", and half way along the row is the Bema from which speakers addressed the people of Corinth. Here in A.D. 52 the Apostle Paul appeared before the Roman governor Gallio, a brother of Seneca's. There is some evidence on the Bema of the Christian church which was later built here.

Along the west end of the Agora are a series of Roman temples set on podia - from south to north the temple of Venus, the Pantheon and the temples of Poseidon, Hercules and Apollo. In front of the temple of Apollo is the Corinthian-style Rotunda of Babbius. To the west of the row of temples are the West Shops, between which is a broad flight of steps leading up to the higher level on which is Temple E (probably built for Augustus's sister Octavia), by the entrance to the Museum. Recent excavations in the area to the south have revealed a number of different occupation levels and a mosaic pavement dating from about 500 B.C.

There is a row of shops along the north side of the Agora, at any rate towards the west end, near the propylon and the "Captives' Facade". In front of the row of shops is the Sacred Spring, in a Greek fountain-house (fifth century B.C.) in the form of a Doric triglyph, with seven steps leading down to the chamber containing the spring.

From the Sacred Spring in Ancient Corinth, we climb the low hill on which stands the conspicuous Temple of Apollo. Of the original temple there survive seven columns with part of the entablature, the rock-cut footings and part of the foundations. There were originally six by 15 massive monolithic columns. The naos was divided into two chambers, each of which had two rows of columns. The remains are sufficient to reveal the austere monumentality of the temple, a magnificent example of early Doric architecture, which was built about 540 B.C. on the site of an earlier seventh century temple. Other notable remains are the Fountain of Glauke (west of the temple of Apollo), the Odeion and Theater (northwest of the Museum, outside the enclosed area) and the Asklepieion (600m/660yd north of the Museum).

The Corinth Museum provides a comprehensive view of the art of Corinth. Room I contains Neolithic and Helladic material (fourth-second millennium B.C.). In Room II, opposite Room I, are items ranging in date from the Proto-Geometric period (11th century B.C.) to Hellenistic times. Of particular interest is the collection of pottery, arranged in chronological order in a clockwise direction, which gives a complete picture of the development of Corinthian pottery from the 11th century onwards. Room III contains Roman, Byzantine and Frankish material, including statues of Augustus and his grandson Lucius Caesar (opposite the entrance) and of other Roman Emperors, a second century mosaic pavement (on the left-hand wall) and figures in Phrygian dress, 2.57m/8.50ft high, from the "Captives' Facade".