Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/358

 354 CORINTH CORINTHIANS this time Corinth became the firm ally of Spar- ta, and a prominent member of the Pelopon- nesian confederacy. Its government became a mild and moderate aristocracy, and long en- joyed the greatest internal tranquillity. Its relations to Athens were also friendly, till the growing prosperity and power of the latter state subsequent to the Persian wars began to excite jealousy. Megara was long a subject of contention between them ; and when Athens aided Corcyra against the mother city, Corinth exerted all her influence to induce the Pelopon- nesian confederacy to declare war against her powerful enemy. Thus commenced the Pe- loponnesian war, throughout which Corinth acted an important part ; at first, indeed, she furnished almost the entire Peloponnesian fleet. When the peace of Nicias was concluded in 421 Corinth positively refused to ratify it, and after the defeat of the Athenian fleet at ^Egos- potamos urged the confederacy to raze Athens to the ground. But it was not long before the Spartans by their progress in power began to excite the jealousy of the other Grecian states ; and the Corinthians united with the Boeotians, the Argives, and Athenians in a war against them. This contest, known in history as the Corinthian war, lasted from 394 to 387 B. C., when the peace of Antalcidas restored Corinth to the Lacedaemonian alliance, to which she re- mained faithful in the Theban war. About 346 Timophanes, attempting to establish tyranny, was killed by his brother Timoleon. After the battle of Chaeronea the Macedonians took pos- session of the city, and stationed a strong gar- rison in the fortress of the Acrocorinthus ; but after the defeat of Philip at Cynoscephalse, in 197, Corinth, now declared free by the Romans, was again united to the Achaean league, which it originally joined in 243. At the head of the league, Corinth struck the last blow in defence of Greece, and then fell herself before the con- quering legions of Rome, in the year 146. Mummius, the Roman consul, on entering the city as victor, put the men to death, and sold the women and children into slavery ; he plun- dered the city of its precious treasures, and consigned it to the flames. From this time Corinth remained desolate for a century, when a colony was planted there by Julius Caesar, which made it once more a prosperous city, the population rising to about 100,000. It was this Roman city which St. Paul visited a century later, which he made for almost two years his home, and where he founded that important church to which he afterward addressed two epistles. It continued for many years after- ward to be the capital of Achaia, but finally fell before the devastating march of Alaric the Goth. In modern times, it was taken in 1458 by Mohammed II., transferred to the Venetians in 1687, and retaken by the Turks in 1715, who held it till 1823, when it passed into the possession of modern Greece. It was almost destroyed by an earthquake, Feb. 21, 1858. Corinth in the day of Grecian greatness was distinguished more for commerce and the arts than for war. Architecture was early cultiva- ted; sculptors and artists were honored and rewarded. It not only gave name to the most elaborate order of Grecian architecture, but also claimed the honor of having invented the art of painting. The Corinthian vases of terra cotta were among the finest in Greece ; and such was their beauty that all the cemeteries of the city were ransacked by the colonists of Julius Caesar, who sent them to Rome, where they brought enormous prices. CORINTH, a village and the capital of Alcorn co., Mississippi, in the N. E. corner of the state, near the Tennessee line ; pop. in 1870, 1,512, of whom 679 were colored. The village, being at the junction of the Memphis and Charleston and the Mobile and Ohio railroads, was a posi- tion of great strategical importance during the civil war, and had been early occupied by the confederates, who constructed there defensive works. It was still further strengthened by Gen. Beauregard after his retreat from the battle of Shiloh (April 6, 7, 1862). Gen. Hal- leek slowly followed him thither, and began those operations which at the time were desig- nated as "the siege of Corinth." There was some fighting in the vicinity, at Farmington (May 21), and an attempt was made to flank Corinth and to cut the railroad S. of it, when the confederates evacuated the position, and retreated to Tupelo, pursued by Gen. Pope, though without material results. Corinth was now occupied by the Union troops, who enlarged the defensive works; and in the autumn it was held by Gen. Rosecrans with 20,000 men. The confederates, under Van Dora and Price, with about 40,000 men, undertook to recapture the place. On Oct. 3 they attacked a strong outpost, which they carried, inflicting considerable loss; and on the 4th they endeavored to take Corinth by storm. The assault was made in two columns at different points. Each column gained some advantage at first ; but when they reached the main defensive line both were swept back in utter rout. The whole confederate force fled in disorder, and were pursued for several miles with great slaughter, and without making a show of resistance. The entire Union loss was 315 killed, 1,812 wounded, and 232 prisoners, taken on the 3d. The confederate loss, as stated by Rosecrans, was 1,423 dead left be- hind and buried on the field, probably 5,000 wounded, and 2,248 prisoners, besides large quantities of small arms and ammunition. CORINTH, Golf of. See LEPANTO. CORINTHIANS, Epistles to the, two canonical epistles of the New Testament, ascribed by the unanimous testimony of Christian antiquity to the apostle Paul, and addressed by him to the church which he had planted at Corinth about A. D. 52. The first was written from Ephesus between the years 56 and 58. It was designed to rebuke party divisions and consequent disor- ders which had arisen in the Corinthian church,