Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/702

 «84 COBINTHUS. qualces and antiquity He abo decorated Che portico at the Stadium, with the arched apartmentB uid the deooratione belongmg to them." It has been alreadj mentioned that the northern portion of the walls wiiich surrounded the Isthmic aanctoary belonged to a line of fortification, which extended at one p^od across the Isthmus. This wall maj still be traced in its whole extent across the narrowest part of the Isthmus, beginning at the baj of Lechaeum and terminating at the bay of Schoenus. It was fortified with square towers on its northern aide in the direction of Megaris, showing that it was intended for the defence of Peloitpnnesus against attacks from the north. It was not built in a straight line, but followed the crest of a range of low hills, the last falls of the Oneian mountains. The length of the wall, according to Boblaye, is 7300 mkres, wiiile the breadth of the Isthmus at its narrowest part is only 5950 m^res. At what period this wall was erected, is uncertain. The first Isthmian wall, mentioned in history, was the one thrown up in haste by the Peloponnesians when Xerxes was inarching into Greece. (Herod, viii. 71 ; Diod. xi. 66.) But this was a work of haste, and could not have been the same as the massive walls, of which the remains are extant. Moreover, it is evident from the military operations in the Corinthia, recorded by Thucydides and Xenophon, that in their time the Isthmus was not defended by a line of fortifications: the difiiculties of an invading army always b^in with the passes through the Oneian mountuns. Diodonis (xv. 68) speaks of a temporary line of fortifications, consisting of palisades and trenches, which were thrown acroes the Isthmus by the Spartans and their allies, to prevent the Thebans from marching into Peloponnesus (b. c. 369), frvm which it clearly appears that there was no permanent wall. Moreover, Xenophon {HeU. vii. 1. § 15, seq.) does not even mention the palisading and trenches, but places the Lacedaemonians and their allies upon the Oneian mountains. It is not till we come to the period of the decline of the Roman empire, that we find mention of the Isthmian wall. It was then regarded as an important defence agunst the inva- aions of the barbarians. Hence, it was restored by Valerian in the middle of the third century (Zo- sim. i. 29), by Justinian towards the end of the sixth (Procop. de Aedif, iv. 2), by the Greeks against the Turks in 1415, and after it had been destroyed by the Turks it was rebuilt by the Venetians in 1463. It was a second time destroyed by the Tmrks ; and by the treaty of Carkmitz, in 1*699, the remains of the old walls were made the boundary line between the territories of the Turks and Venetians. The Isthmian wall formed with the passes of the Geraneian and with those of the Oneian mountains three distinct lines of defence, which are enumerated in the following passage of Claudian (de Bell. Get 188):— £t duo continuo connectens aequora muro Isthmus, et angusti patuerunt claustra Lechaei." A short distance north of the Isthmian wall* where the ground was the most level, was the Diol- cos (JiioKKOSy Strab. viii. p. 335). It was a level road, upon which smaller vessels were drawn by moving rollers from one &ea to the other. The car- goes of those ships, which were too large for this mode of transport, were unloaded, carried across, and COMNTHUSb pat on board other vessels upon the opposite ooaat Hence we find the expressions 9ilof fi«<y rhs rovr, OwtpurBfuii^ (PoL iv. 19), 6w€p^p€iw (Thuc viii. 7), StcXici^iy (Diod. iv. 56). In some seasaos of the year there was an uninterrupted traffic upon the Dioloos, to which allusion is made in one of the jokes of Aristophanes (^Themnoph. 647). The narrow breadth of the Isthmus, and the im- portant trafiic across it, frequently suggested the idea of cutting a canal throngh it. This project is said to have been formed by Periander (Diog. LaSrt L 99), Demetrius Poliorcetes (Strab. i. p. 54), Julius Caesar (Dion Cass. xliv. 5; Suet. Caee, 44; Pint. Caes, 58), Caligula (Suet Calig. 21), Nero^ and Herodes Atticus (Philostr. Vit Soph. ii. 6> But the only one who actually commenced the worit was Nero. This emperor opened the undertaking with great pomp, and cut out part of the earth with his own hands; but the work had advanced only fbor stadia, when he was obliged to give it up, in conse- quence of the insurrection of Julius Vindex in GauL (DiiMi Cass. Ixv. 16 ; Suet Ner. 19 ; Pans. iL 1. § 5; Plin. iv. 4. B. 5; Lucian, de Fossa fstkmi.') The canal was commenced upon the western shore ckee to the Diolcos, and traces of it may still be seen at right angles to the shore. It has now little depth ; but it is 200 feet wide, and may be traced for about 1200 yards. It ceased where the rocky ground be- gins to rise; for even the Isthmus is not a perfect level, but rises gradually from either shore, and steeper from the eastern than the western side. Curtius says that the highest pmnt is 246 feet above tiie level of the sea. The existing remains of the canal leave no doubt respecting its position; but since it was said by some authorities to commence ikirh rov Afxofov, Chandler erroneously concluded that it commenced at the port of Lechaeum. Leake, however, has shoTin that the bay of the Corinthian gulf at the Isthmus bore tiie name <^ Lechaeum, and that we are to understand the bay, and not the port, in the passages referred to. VI. TOPOORAPHT OF THE CoRIKTHIA. Tlie territory of Corinth extended some distance to the north and south of the Isthmus. At an earlier period the boundary line between the Corinthia and Megaris commenced at Crommyon ; but at a later time the Corinthia extended as far as the Sdronian rocks and the other passes of the Geraneia. South of the Isthmus Corinth possessed the part of the Pelopon- nesus extending as far as the northern slopes of the Aigive mountains, and along the coast of the Saronic gulf as &r as the territory of Epidaurus. The direct distances in English miles, from the city of Corinth to its frontiers, as measured by ClintcHi, are: to the river Nemea, which divided Corinthia from [^cyonia, 7^ miles; to the confines of Epidauria, 13^ miles; to the confines of Megaris, 12 miles. Corinth was only 8} miles from Cleonae, which stood beyond the Corinthian frontiers towards Argoe. In the time of the Koman empire the Corinthia was included under Argolis (ii KopivBla X'^P^ lunpa. oZm r^s 'ApTclos, PauR. ii. I. § 1). South of Cenchreae the Ondium runa out into the Saronic gulf, forming a promontory called Cbei^^o- nesus. Between this promontory and a sprtt called Kheltus or the stream is a bay with a flat afaore, where the Athenians under Nicias landed in b.c 425, intending to take possessicm of the mountain called SoLTGKius (SoAvycios), which had been formerly seized by the Dorian invaders for the por-
 * Vallata man Scironia rupes,