Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/692

 674 CORINTHUS. desigiution of the Crinaean golf. (Startb. I e.) It appears from Scylax that the latter sea was also called the Delphian gulf (i AcA^uc^j K6wof). Pliny, on the contniy, oooiSnes the term Corin- thiacns Sinus to the inner sea, and gives the name of the Grissaean gnlf to the bay near the town of Oeanthe, the modem Gtdf of Salona. (Plin. iv. 2. B. 3, 3. s. 4.) At the eastern extremity of the inner sea there were two bays, separated from one another hy the rocky promontwy north of the Isth- mns, the more northerly being called the Alcy- onian sea (i^ 'AXxvovU hdkcurffd), and the more southerly the bay of Lechaeum. [See Corxnthus.] In one passage of Strabo (viii. p. 336) we read '* the sea from Antirrhinm to the Isthmos is called Alcyonis, being a portion of the Crisaean gulf;" but the text is evidently &n]ty, and u not in aooordanoe with other passages of Strabo, in which the name of Alcyonis is given to the bay at the eastern extremity of the gulf, beginning at Creusa in Boeotia and the promontory Olmiae in the Corinthia. (Gomp. Stnb. ix. pp. 393, 400.) Hence in the passage first quoted it has been proposed with great probability to read, ** the sea from Antirrhinm to the Isthmus is the Grissaean gulf; but from the dty Greusa it is called Alcyonis." (Groskurd, German TroMlation ofStrabOt vol. ii. p. 11.) Strabo says (viii. p. 336) that the circuit of the Gorinthian gulf from the Evenus to the Araxus is 2230 stadia. Pliny (iv. 4. s. 6) makes tlie length 85 miles, Agathemenis (i. 4) 720 stadia. Respect- ing the breadth of the strait between Rhium and Antirrhinm, see Aciiaia, p. 13. The Gorinthian gulf resembles a large inland lake. It is surrounded by mountains, and the heights towards the west shut out the view of the open sea. In beauty of scenery it surpasses even the most picturesque lakes of Switzerland and Northern Italy. ** Its coasts, broken into an infinite variety of ouUine by the ever-changing mixture of bold promontory, gentle slope, and cultivated level, are crowned on every side by lofty mountains of the most majestic forms." (Leake.) Sailing from Gorinth one sees in the distance, on the left the top of Erymanthus, rising like a colossal pyramid, and on the right the lofty heights of Helicon and Parnassus. (Leake, Morea^ vol. iii. p. 397 ; Ulrichs, ReUen in Griechenland^ p. 3 ; Gurtius, Pehponnesot^ vol. i. pp. 7, 404, 422.) GORINTHUS {K6ptyeos: Eth, KopMtos-. Gor- tho)f one of the most important cities of Greece. I. Situation. Gorinth stood upon the I&thmns, which con- nected the northern division of Greece, or Hellas Proper, with the Peloponnesus. On either side of the Isthmus, which is a rocky and sterile plain, rise the mountains of Northern Greece and Pelopon- nesus respectively. The mountains to the north of the Isthmus, which bore the name of Geraneia, ex- tend across the Isthmus from sea to sea. There are only three passes through them, of which the most celebrated, being the shortest road between Gorinth and Megara, is upon the shore of the Sa- ronic Gulf, and bore the name of the Scironian rocks. A more particular account of the Gera- neian mountains is given under Megara, to which they more properly belong. [Meoara.] The mountains to the south of the Isthmus were called the Oneian ridge, from their resemblance to an vss's back (rd 'OreiOK, Thac. ir. 44 ; Xen. HelL CORINTHUS. ▼i. 5. § 51; ra 'Qycio, Strab. viiL p. 380.)* Th^ did not, however, occupy the whole breadth of the Isthmus. The lofty rock, which formed the dtadel of Corinth, and which was hence called the Aero- oorinthns, is properly an ofRihoot of the Oneian ridge, but is separated from the latter by a imvine, and seen from the north appears to be an isolated mountain. The Oneian ridge extends eastwards as farastheSaronicGulf. Westward, the Acrocorinthns does not reach the bea; but there is a narrow level space between the foot of the mountain and the sea. This level space was protected by the two long walls connecting the city with its port town Lechaeum: while eastward of the city there were only two passes, through which an invading force ooold pene- trate, one through the ravine, which separated the Acrocorinthus and the Oneian mountains (Pol. iL 52), and the other along the shore at Cenchreae. (Xen. Beil vi. 5. § 51.) Thus Gorinth completely commanded the three passes, which alone led'from tfaie Isthmus to the Peloponnesus, the one upon the shore of the Gorinthian Gulf being occupied by the Long Walls, the one through the ravine between the Acrocorinthus and the Oneian mountains being under the veiy fortifications of the dtadd, and the third upon the Saronic Gulf, being under the walk of Genchrcae. From its position, Gorinth was called by the last Philip of Macedon one of the fetten of Greece; the other two being Ghalds in Euboea. and Demetrias in Thessaly. (Pol. xvii. 1 1 ; Lit. xxxiL 37.) The Gorinthia {9i KopivOia)^ or territory of Co- rinth, was not fertile (xc^pof S' fax*'' <>^ *9yfe9 ffipUpa^ dWh ffKoXidp TC koI rpaxcioy, Strab. viix. p. 382). Neither the rocky sides of the Gera- neian and Oneian mountains, nor Uie stony and sandy plain of the Isthmus, were suitable for com. The only arable land in the territcwy of any extent is the plain upon the coast, ly:ng between Gorinth and Sicyon, and bel cities. The fertility of this plain is praised in the highest terms by the ancient writers (ager nobilis- shnae fertilitatis, Li v. xxvii. 31): and such was iu value, that to possess " what lies between Gorinth and Sicyon" became a proverbial expressiui for great wealth. (Athen. v. p. 219, a.) It must not, however, be inferred from these and similar expres- sions, that this plain surpassed in fertility every other district in PeloponnoHUs; but its proximity to the wealthy and populous city of Gorinth greatly en- hanced its value; mm! hence an estate in this plain produced a much larger revenue than <Ae of a similar size in the most fertile parts of Peloponnesus. It was watered by the mountun torrents coming from Nemea and Gleonae; and it finished GorinSi and its port towns with fimit and vegetables, but coold not have yielded any Urge supply of com. Of the other products of the Gorinthia scarcely any mention is made; its wine was very bad (6 KopMtos eh^ot fioffotfUTfihs ^(TTi, Athen. i. p. 30, f.). Shut in withm this narrow territoiy by the mountain barrierB towards the north and the so*it]i, and unable to obtain from the soil a sufficient supply of the necessaries of lifia, the inhabitants were natu- rally led to try their fortune on the sea, to which their situation inyited them. Gorinth was destinei with the Geraneui, and erroneously repnescnts the former as extending as fiir as Boeotia and CithacroB. (Gurtius, Pe^f^poimBSos, vol. L p. S5.)
 * Strabo in this passage confounds the