After preaching at Athens, the apostle Paul traveled to Corinth (Acts 18:1-18). Corinth was the most important city Paul had visited since he left Antioch of Syria, and, with the exception of Ephesus, he stayed at Corinth longer than any other city we know of.
Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish tentmakers from Rome, while at Corinth (Acts 18:2-3). According to the Roman historian Suetonius, Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 A.D., because "the Jews were in a state of constant tumult at the instigation of one Chrestus" (i.e., Christ).
Although the "golden age" of Corinth was five centuries before Paul's visit, Corinth had enjoyed a return to prominence during the 1st century A.D. The biennial Isthmian Games, second in importance to the Olympics, were held in honor of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth. Recent discoveries include the starting gate for the races, and it is possible that Paul was present at one of these events. The victor's crown at the Isthmian Games was made of wilted celery, and maybe Paul had this in mind when he spoke of the "corruptible crown" given to victorious athletes (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
The City Of Corinth
Corinth is located in southern Greece about 50 miles from Athens, and about two miles south of the narrow isthmus that forms a land bridge between the main landmass of Greece and the Peloponnesus. The isthmus is less than four miles wide. Corinth controlled the two major harbors and thus command of the trade routes between Asia and Rome. In ancient days small ships were dragged across the isthmus on a paved road; larger ships unloaded their cargo, which was then carried across the isthmus and then reloaded onto other ships.
"One of the most important factors drawing Paul to Corinth was its strategic location on the narrow isthmus connecting central Greece to the southern land mass of the Peloponnese. Even more important than the land travel north and south, however, was the sea travel east and west through the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth, lapping the eastern and western shores of the isthmus respectively. The Roman poet Horace wrote in praise of 'twin-sea'd Corinth.' Ship captains plying the northern Mediterranean sea route between Europe and the Aegean Sea much preferred to bring their vessels through the sheltered waters of these two gulfs rather than to add over 200 miles to their sea journey and to risk the more exposed seas off the southern coast of the Peloponnese. Corinth stood, therefore, at a heavily traveled crossroads of the Roman empire. The idea for a canal had emerged as early as the 7th century B.C." (The Biblical World In Pictures).
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Caligula all considered making a canal through the isthmus. In 67 A.D., 15 years after Paul came here, Nero came to Corinth to turn over a spadeful of soil in a groundbreaking ceremony for a canal to be dug by Jewish prisoners, but the project was abandoned. French engineers completed a canal in 1881-93.
The city flourished from the 8th to the 5th centuries B.C. Because of the leading role it had played against them as a member of the Achaean League, the Roman consul Lucius Mummius burned and destroyed the city in 146 B.C., and left her a heap of ruins. All that remains of the old Greek city is a part of the old marketplace, the seven colums of the temple of Apollo, and a fountain which was preserved by the Romans.
Julius Caeser rebuilt Corinth around 46-44 B.C. as a Roman colony and renamed it Colonia Laus Julia Corinthiensis, "Corinth the praise of Julius."
The majority of the population was Greek, but a large number of Roman military veterans lived there as well, with a sprinkling of Phoenicians and Phrygians. The Roman character of the city is reflected by the many Latin names associated with it in the New Testament: Aquila, Priscilla Crispus, Lucius, Gaius, Tertius, Erastus, Quartus, Fortunatus, Achaicus.
Corinth became the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. In Roman Corinth, old temples were restored and enlarged, new shops and markets built, new water supplies developed