Corinth

Chief town of the Roman province of Achaia. It had a magnificent situation on the isthmus connecting the Peloponnesus with the mainland of Greece, possessing a harbor on both eastern and western sides. It was practically destroyed at the Roman conquest, 146 B.C., but was rebuilt by Julius Caesar a hundred years later. Paul lived here for a year and six months (Acts 18:1–18) in the course of his second missionary journey. Soon after his departure it was visited by Apollos. We learn from the two epistles to the Corinthians that the Church here was split up into parties and that the Judaizing element was very active. Near here were held the famous Isthmian games, from which Paul borrows the striking imagery of 1 Cor. 9:24–27.