Korinthos

Korinthos (Corinth) is the successor to an ancient city and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality of Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is the capital of Corinthia. It was founded as Nea Korinthos (Νέα Κόρινθος), or New Corinth, in 1858 after an earthquake destroyed the existing settlement of Corinth, which had developed in and around the site of ancient Corinth.

History

Corinth derives its name from Ancient Corinth, a city-state of antiquity. The site was occupied from before 3000 BC. Historical references begin with the early 8th century BC when Corinth began to develop as a commercial center. Between the 8th and 7th centuries, the Bacchiad family ruled Corinth. Cypselus overthrew the Bacchiad family, and between 657 and 550 BC, he and his son Periander ruled Corinth as the Tyrants.

In about 550 BC, an oligarchical government seized power. This government allied with Sparta within the Peloponnesian League, and Corinth participated in the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War as an ally of Sparta. After Sparta's victory in the Peloponnesian war, the two allies fell out with one another, and Corinth pursued an independent policy in the various wars of the early 4th century BC. After the Macedonian conquest of Greece, the Acrocorinth was the seat of a Macedonian garrison until 243 BC, when the city was liberated and joined the Achaean League. Nearly a century later, in 146 BC, Corinth was captured and was completely destroyed by the Roman army.

As a newly rebuilt Roman colony in 44 BC, Corinth flourished and became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Achaea.

In 1858, the old city, now known as Ancient Corinth (Αρχαία Κόρινθος, Archaia Korinthos), located 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) south-west of the modern city, was totally destroyed by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake. New Corinth (Nea Korinthos) was then built to the northeast of it, on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth. In 1928, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake devastated the new city, which was then rebuilt on the same site. In 1933, there was a great fire, and the new city was rebuilt again.