Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/694

 676 OOBINTHUS. three was the standArd number in all pordj Doric states. It was imposrible to preserve in a dty like Corinth the regular Doric institntioos ; since the Wealth acqoired by ooounerue greatly exceeded the valne of landed property, and necessarily oonfierred npon its possessorsi even though not Dorians, great influence and power. Aletes and his descendants held the xxjyal power for 12 geoentioas. Their names and the length of their reign are thns given: Yeun. Aletes. «. • reigned 38 Uion -. . ^ 38 Agelas - - - » 37 P^mnis. . . y, 35 Bacchls - - - „ 35 Agelas. . . „ 30 Endemns - - *- »y 25 Aristodemes ■* ■* » ^^ Agemon. - . „ 16 Alexander - - - „ 85 Telestes. . . „ 12 Automenes - - - .. 1 It 327 Fansanias speaks as if Prymnis was the last descendant of Aletes, and Baochis, the founder of a new, though still an Heradeid dynasty; but Diodonis describes all these kings as descendants of Aletes, but in consequence of the celebrity of Bacchls, his successors took the name of Bacchidae in place of that of Aletiadae or Heradeidae. After Automenes had reigned one year, the Baochiad fiunily, amounting to about 200 persons, determined to aboUsh royalty, and to elect out of their own number an annual Piytanis. The Bscchiad oligarchy had possession of the government for 90 years, until it was over- throwA by Gypselns, with the help of the lower classes, in b. o. 657. (Diod. vi. fragm. 6, p. 635, Wess. ; Paus. ii. 4. § 4 ; Herod. ▼. 92.) Stnbo says (viii. p. 378) that the Bacchiad digarcfay lasted nearly 200 years ; but he probably included within this period a portion of the time that the Bacchiads possessed the royal power. The Bac- chiads, after thdr deposition by Gypsdus, were for the most part driven into exile, and are said to have taken refuge in difierent parts of Greece, and even in Italy. (Plut. Lgmnd. I ; Liv. i. 34.) According to the mythical chronology the return of the Heradeidae took pUce in b. o. 1 104. As the Dorian conquest of Corinth was placed one generation (30 years) after this event, the reign of Aletes com- nienoed B.C. 1074. His family therefore reigned from B. c. 1074 to 747 ; and the Bacchiad oligardiy lasted from b. c. 747 to 657. Under the Bacchiadae the Corinthians wore dis- tinguished by great commerdal enterprise. They traded chiefly with the western port of Greece; since the eastern sea was the domain of the Aeginetans. The sea, formerly called the Criasaeau from the town of Crissa, was now named the Corinthian tifter tliem; and in order to secure the strait which led into the western waters, they founded Molycria op- posite the prunontory of Rhium (Thnc. iii. 102.) It was under the sway of the Bacchiadae that the important colonies of Syracuse and Corcyra were founded by the Corintliians (b. a 734), and that a navy of ships of war was created for the first time in Greece; for we have the express testimony of Thucydides that triremes were first built at Corinth. (Tbuc L 13.) The prosperity of Corinth sufiered no COBIKTHUS. dimlmiftion from the revolution, wludi made Cypsdns despot or tyrant of Corinth. Both this prince and his son Periander, who succeeded him, were distin- guished by the vigour of their administntian and by tiidr patronage of oommeroe and the fine arts. Following the plans of colonisation, which had been commenced by the Bacchiadae, they planted nii- menms cdonies upon the western shores of Greece, by means of vdiich they exerdsed a sovereign power in these seas. Ambracia, Anactorimn, Leocas, Apdlonia and other important colonies, were founded by Cypselus or his son. Corcyra, which had thrown off the supremacy of Coring, and whose navy had defeated tiiat of the mother country in b. c. 665, was reduced to subjection again in the reign of Periander. It has been noticed by MflUer that all these colonies were sent out from the hari>oar of Lechaeum on the Corinthian gulf; and that the only colony despatched from the harbour of Cenchreae en the Saronic gulf was the one which founded Potidaca, on the coast of Chalddice in Macedonia. (Mfiller, Dor, i. 6. § 7.) Cypsdus rdgncd 30 years (b. c 657 — 627), and Periander 44 yeara (b. a 627— 583). For the his- tory of those tyrants the reader is referred to the Diet o/Biogr. s. w. Periander was succeeded by his nephew Psammetichns, who reigned only three years. He was without doubt overthrown by the Spartans, who put down so many of the despots about Uiis period. The government blished at Corinth, under the ausjnces of Sparta, ' again aristocratical, but apparently of a less exdnsive character than that of the hereditary oligardiy of the Bacchiadae. The gerusia was probably composed of certain noble families, such as the Oligaethidae mentioned by Pindar, whom he describes as thcos SfAtpof iurroh, (Pind. OL xiii. 2. 133.) From the time of the deposition of Psammetichns Corinth be- came an ally of Sparta, and one of the most powerful and influential memben of the Peloponnesian coitfo- dera^. At an early period the Corinthians were on friendly terms with the Athenians. They refused to assist Cleomenes, king of Sparta, in restoring Hippias to Athens, and they lent the Athenians 20 ships to carry on the war against Aegina (Herod. V. 92; Thuc. i. 41); but the rapid growth of the Athenian power after the Pereian war excited the jealousy of Corinth; and the accession of M^ara to the Athenian alliance was speedily followed by open hoBtilities between the two states. The Corinthniis marched into the territory of M^ara, but were there defeated with great loss by the Athenian commander, Myronides, B.C. 457. (Thuc. L 103 — 106) Peac« was shortly afterwards concluded; but the enmitj which the Corintliians felt against the Athenians was still further increased by the assistanoe which the latter aflbrded to the Corcyraeans in thdr quarrel with Corinth. This step was the immediate cause of the Peloponnesian war; for the Corinthians now- exerted all their influence to persuade Sparta and the other Peloponnesian states to declare waragaiiHt Athens. In the Pdoponnesian war the Corinthians at first furnished the greaterpart of the Peloponnesian fleet. Throughout the whole war their enmity against the Athoiians continued unabated ; and when theSpartans conduded with the latter in b. a 421 the peace^ usually called the peace of Nicias, the CorinUiians refused to be parties to it, and were so indignant with Sparta, that they endeavoured to form a new Peloponnesian league with Argos, KUntineia and