Godavari river. The harbour is protected from the swell of the sea by the southward projection of Point Godavari, and affords a shelter to vessels during the south-west monsoon; but though formerly the most important on this coast it has been silted up and lost its trade. The repairing and building of small coasting ships is an industry at Tallarevu in the vicinity. In 1787 a gale from the north-east occasioned an inundation which swept away the greater part of Coringa with its inhabitants; and in 1832 another storm desolated the place, carrying vessels into the fields and leaving them aground. Of Europeans the Dutch were the first to establish themselves at Coringa. In 1759 the English took possession of the town, and erected a factory 5 m. to the south of it.
CORINNA, surnamed “the Fly,” a Greek poetess, born at Tanagra in Boeotia, flourished about 500 B.C. She is chiefly known as the instructress and rival of Pindar, over whom she gained the victory in five poetical contests. According to Pausanias (ix. 22. 3), her success was chiefly due to her beauty and her use of the local Boeotian dialect. The extant fragments of her poems, dealing chiefly with mythological subjects, such as the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, will be found in Bergk’s Poëtae Lyrici Graeci.
Some considerable remains of two poems on a 2nd–century papyrus (Berliner Klassikertexte, v., 1907) have also been attributed to Corinna (W. H. D. Rouse’s Year’s Work in Classical Studies, 1907; J. M. Edmonds, New Frags. of ... and Corinna, 1910).
CORINTH, a city of Greece, situated near the isthmus (see Corinth, Isthmus of) which connects Peloponnesus and central
Greece, and separates the Saronic and the Corinthian gulfs
on E. and W. The ancient town stood 1½ m. from the latter,
in a plain extending westward to Sicyon. The citadel, or Acrocorinthus,
rising precipitously on the S. to a height of 1886 ft.
was separated by a ravine from Oneium, a range of hills which
runs E. to the isthmus entrance. Between this ridge and the
offshoots of Geraneia opposite a narrow depression allowed of
easy transit across the Isthmus neck. The territory of Corinth
was mostly rocky and unfertile; but its position at the head
of two navigable gulfs clearly marked it out as a commercial
centre. Its natural advantages were enhanced by the “Diolcus”
or tram-road, by which ships could be hauled across the Isthmus.
It was connected in historic times with its western port of
Lechaeum by two continuous walls, with Cenchreae and Schoenus
on the east by chains of fortifications. The city walls attained
a circuit of 10 m.
I. History.—In mythology, Corinth (originally named Ephyre) appears as the home of Medea, Sisyphus and Bellerophon, and already has over-sea connexions which illustrate its primitive commercial activity. Similarly the early presence of Phoenician traders is attested by the survival of Sidonian cults (Aphrodite Urania, Athena Phoenicice, Melicertes, i.e. Melkarth). In the Homeric poems Corinth is a mere dependency of Mycenae; nor does it figure prominently in the tradition of the Dorian migrations. Though ultimately conquered by the invaders it probably retained much of its former “Ionian” population, whose god Poseidon continued to be worshipped at the national Isthmian games throughout historic times; of the eight communal tribes perhaps only three were Dorian. Under the new dynasty of Aletes, which reigned according to tradition from 1074 to 747, Corinthian history continues obscure. The government subsequently passed into the hands of a small corporation of nobles descended from a former king Bacchis, and known as the Bacchidae, who nominated annually a Prytanis (president) from among their number. The maritime expansion of Corinth at this time is proved by the foundation of colonies at Syracuse and Corcyra, and the equipment of a fleet of triremes (the newly invented Greek men-of-war) to quell a revolt of the latter city.
But Corinth’s real prosperity dates from the time of the tyranny (657–581), established by a disqualified noble Cypselus (q.v.). and continued under his son Periander (q.v.). Under these remarkable men, whose government was apparently mild, the city rapidly developed. She extended her sphere of influence throughout the coast-lands of the western gulf; by the settlement of numerous colonies in N.W. Greece she controlled the Italian and Adriatic trade-routes and secured a large share of the commerce with the western Greeks. In Levantine waters connexions grew up with the great marts of Chalcis and Miletus, with the rulers of Lydia, Phrygia, Cyprus and Egypt. As an industrial centre Corinth achieved pre-eminence in pottery, metal-work and decorative handicraft, and was the reputed “inventor” of painting and tiling; her bronze and her pottery, moulded from the soft white clay of Oneium, were widely exported over the Mediterranean. The chief example of her early art was the celebrated “chest of Cypselus” at Olympia, of carved cedar and ivory inlaid with gold. The city was enriched with notable temples and public works (see § Archaeology), and became the home of several Cyclic poets and of Arion, the perfecter of the dithyramb.
The tyranny was succeeded by an oligarchy based upon a graduated money qualification, which ruled with a consistency equalling that of the Venetian Council, but pursued a policy too purely commercial to the neglect of military efficiency. Late in the 6th century Corinth joined the Peloponnesian league under Sparta, in which her financial resources and strategic position secured her an unusual degree of independence. Thus the city successfully befriended the Athenians against Cleomenes I. (q.v.), and supported them against Aegina, their common commercial rival in eastern waters. In the great Persian war of 480 Corinth served as the Greek headquarters: her army took part at Thermopylae and Plataea and her navy distinguished itself at Salamis and Mycale. Later in the century the rapid development of Athenian trade and naval power became a serious menace. In 459 the Corinthians, in common with their former rivals the Aeginetans, made war upon Athens, but lost both by sea and land. Henceforward their Levantine commerce dwindled, and in the west the Athenians extended their rivalry even into the Corinthian Gulf. Though Syracuse remained friendly, and the colonies in the N.W. maintained a close commercial alliance with the mother-city, the disaffection of Corcyra hampered the Italian trade. The alliance of this latter power with Athens accentuated the rising jealousy of the Corinthians, who, after deprecating a federal war in 440, virtually forced Sparta’s hand against Athens in 432. In the subsequent war Corinth displayed great activity in the face of heavy losses, and the support she gave to Syracuse had no little influence on the ultimate issue of the war (see Peloponnesian War). In 395 the domineering attitude of Sparta impelled the Corinthians to conclude an alliance with Argos which they had previously contemplated on occasions of friction with the former city, as well as with Thebes and with Athens, whose commercial rivalry they no longer dreaded. In the ensuing “Corinthian War” the city suffered severely, and the war-party only maintained itself by the help of an Argive garrison and a formal annexation to Argos. Since 387 the Spartan party was again supreme, and after Leuctra Corinth took the field against the Theban invaders of Peloponnesus (371–366). In 344 party struggles between oligarchs and democrats led to a usurpation by the tyrant Timophanes, whose speedy assassination was compassed by his brother Timoleon (q.v.).
After the campaign of Chaeronea, Philip II. of Macedon summoned a Greek congress at Corinth and left a garrison on the citadel. This citadel, one of the “fetters of Greece,” was eagerly contended for by the Macedonian pretenders after Alexander’s death; ultimately it fell to Antigonus Gonatas, who controlled it through a tyrant. In 243 Corinth was freed by Aratus and incorporated into the Achaean league. After a short Spartan occupation in 224 it was again surrendered to Macedonia. T. Quinctius Flamininus, after proclaiming the liberty of Greece at the Isthmus, restored Corinth to the league (196). With the revival of its political and commercial importance the city became the centre of resistance against Rome. In return for the foolish provocation of war in 146 B.C. the Roman conquerors despoiled Corinth of its art treasures and destroyed the entire settlement: the land was partly made over to Sicyon and partly became public domain.
