DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0061
Gup. m.]
CORINTH.
33
which we had travelled from Patras was the ancient Achaia,
celebrated for the league of its twelve cities, to which Sicyon,
with whose fortunes the history of the liberties and civiliza-
tion of Greece may be said to have terminated as well as
commenced, joined itself in the year 251 b. c. The ruins
are scattered over a considerable extent of ground, and
long lines of foundations may be traced, while fragments of
fluted columns mark the sites of former edifices. The
remains of ■ a brick building, the walls of which arc still
twenty or thirty feet high, and which was probably a basilica
or gymnasium, arc the most conspicuous, but the most in-
teresting are the old Hellenic walls, on a projecting promont-
ory of the table-land between the village and the river
Asopus. This was evidently the Acropolis, the walls of which
were of two characters, the most ancient being of rough
construction, the stones laid in straight courses, but very
rudely cut and uneven.
Descending from the Acropolis of Sicyon I passed the
Asopus below a pointed bridge of one arch, and crossed
the plain to Corinth. Notwithstanding the richness of the
soil, it is neglected for many miles; the fields produce
nothing but thistles of gigantic size; and the oleander,
called daphne by the Greeks, flourishes luxuriantly along
the banks of all the streams. After passing through an ex-
tensive olive-wood, perhaps the remains of a sacred grove,
I reached what once was Corinth. It was, indeed, difficult
to believe that the motley mass of ruined and deserted
buildings, chiefly modern, amongst which were seen the roofs
of a few new houses, marked the site of the once crowded
and luxurious Corinth. There was nothing to recall the
recollection of former days but the bold craggy summit of
the Acropolis or Acrocorinth, and the seven Doric columns
which have survived the physical and political convulsions
of the last two thousand years. No traces remain of the
" Bimaris Corinthi mcenia," and we look in vain for—■
tuv oKfitccv Kofitv^ovj 'ItrQfiiau
* Find. 01. 13.
CORINTH.
33
which we had travelled from Patras was the ancient Achaia,
celebrated for the league of its twelve cities, to which Sicyon,
with whose fortunes the history of the liberties and civiliza-
tion of Greece may be said to have terminated as well as
commenced, joined itself in the year 251 b. c. The ruins
are scattered over a considerable extent of ground, and
long lines of foundations may be traced, while fragments of
fluted columns mark the sites of former edifices. The
remains of ■ a brick building, the walls of which arc still
twenty or thirty feet high, and which was probably a basilica
or gymnasium, arc the most conspicuous, but the most in-
teresting are the old Hellenic walls, on a projecting promont-
ory of the table-land between the village and the river
Asopus. This was evidently the Acropolis, the walls of which
were of two characters, the most ancient being of rough
construction, the stones laid in straight courses, but very
rudely cut and uneven.
Descending from the Acropolis of Sicyon I passed the
Asopus below a pointed bridge of one arch, and crossed
the plain to Corinth. Notwithstanding the richness of the
soil, it is neglected for many miles; the fields produce
nothing but thistles of gigantic size; and the oleander,
called daphne by the Greeks, flourishes luxuriantly along
the banks of all the streams. After passing through an ex-
tensive olive-wood, perhaps the remains of a sacred grove,
I reached what once was Corinth. It was, indeed, difficult
to believe that the motley mass of ruined and deserted
buildings, chiefly modern, amongst which were seen the roofs
of a few new houses, marked the site of the once crowded
and luxurious Corinth. There was nothing to recall the
recollection of former days but the bold craggy summit of
the Acropolis or Acrocorinth, and the seven Doric columns
which have survived the physical and political convulsions
of the last two thousand years. No traces remain of the
" Bimaris Corinthi mcenia," and we look in vain for—■
tuv oKfitccv Kofitv^ovj 'ItrQfiiau
* Find. 01. 13.