480 coRQrrHn& turn wooU hiiTe been aboat 40,000. These munben of Clinton, however, are onlj oonjectnnl, and are at the best only an approximation to the truth. (Clin- ton, Fatti ffeU. vol. ii. p. 423, Snd ed.) Notwithstanding the destruction of Corinth bj Hnmmius, some of the ancient bmldings still ezist^ at a later time. Pausanlas begins his description of the dty bj stating that " it contained manj things worthy of notice, some being the relics of the ancient dty, but the greater part executed in the flourishing period afterwards ** (ii. 2. § 6). He appears to have come to Corinth fttxn Cenchreae. The road leading to the city was lined with sepulchral monuments ; and on either side of tho road was a gnnre of cypresses adorned with temples of Bellerophon and Aphrodite, the sepulchre of Lais, and many other monuments. This suburb, called Ckakeion (Kp^fioi^), was the aristocratic quarter of the city, and the favourite place of residence of the wealthy Corinthians, like Collytus at Athens, and Pitane at Sparta (Plut. de Ex$U. 6, p. 601 ; see Athekab, p. 302, a.) Hence it was the chief promenade of Corinth. Here Diogenes of 8inope used to bask in the sun, a striking contrast to the luxuiy and splendour around him; and close to the city gate his tomb was still shown even in the time of Pausanias. (Pans. ii. 2 § 4; Alciphr. iii. 60; Ludan, Quam. Bitt. contcrib. 3.) Xencphon menti(xia the Craneinm in his account of the dvil dissensions of Corinth in b. a 392, as the pUioe where one of the parties took refuge and from thence escaped to the Acrooorinthus. (HelL iv. 4. § 4.) Upon entering Corinth through the gate which probably bore the name of Cenchreae, Pausaiuas proceeded to the Agora, where the greatest number of temples stood. He mentions an Artemis Ei^esia; •—two wooden statues of Dionjrsns; — a temple of Tych^ (Fortune); — a temple sacred to all the gods; — near the latter a fountain, issuing from a dolphin At the foot of a Posddon in bronze ; — statues of Apollo Clarius, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Zens. In the middle of the Agora was a statue of a bronze Athena, on the basis of which were the figures of the Muses in the relief. Above the Agora was a temple of Octavia, the sister of Augustus (iL 2. § 6 — ii. 3. § 1). From the Agora four prindpal streets branched off, one leading to Cenchreae, by which Pausanias entered the city, the second leading to Lechaenm, the third to Sicyon, and the fourth to the Acroco- rinthns. Pausanias next describes the monuments on the road towards Lechaeum. On leaving the Agora to go to Lechaeum a person passed through the Pro- pylaea, on which stood two gilded chariots, one bearing Phaethon and the other the Sun. A little beyond, to the right of the road, was the fountain of Peirene. This fountain was adoriied with wlute marble; and the water flowed from certain artificial caverns into an open receptacle. It was pleasant to drink, and was said to have contributed to the excdlenoe of the Corinthian bronze, when it was plunged into the water red hot (ii. 3. §§ 2, 3). Further on in his account of the Acrocorinthus, Pausanias says that a fountain rises behind the temple of Aphrodite on the summit of the mountain, and that this fountain is supposed to be the same as that of Pdrene in the dty, and that the water flowed underground from the former to the latter (ii. 5. § 1 ). This agrees with the statement of Strabo already quoted so far as relates to the rise of the Pdrene in the Acrocorinthus, and its connection with the. COBINfHUS. fountain in the lower dty; but the two writen diflor respecting the podtion of the latter fbnntdn, Stnbo jdacing it at the foot of the Acrooorinthos, aud Pausanias on the road from the Agora to T^erharnm. It would thus appear that there were three sosroei at Corinth, all of which were at some period of time at least known by the name of Pdrene. Col. Leaks remarks that all the three are still observable; namely, the well in the Acrocorinthus, the rivulets which issue at the foot of that hill as described by Strabo, and the single source below the brow of the hdght on which the town is situated, in the pontioa alluded to by Pausanias. The same author adds, with much probability, that ** it is not difficult U» imagine, that lietween the times of Sdrabo and Pan* sanias a change may have taken place in the appli- cation of the name Pdrene in the lower dty, ia consequence of the water of the northern fonntsin having been found by experience better than thsft at the sources at the foot dT the Acrooorinthus. Tbe prsctioe of the modem Corinthians gives conntenanoB to this suppodtion ; for they use the former fBimtaia al<Hie for drinking, while the water which ia^uat from below the Acrocorinthus, instead of being thought the lightest in Greece, as Athenaeus de- scribes that of Peirene, is oonddered heavy: the water is little used for drinking, and the spring* sn the constant resort of women washing clothes. As the remark of Athenaeus is nearly of the same dste as the description of Pausanias (ii. p. 43, b.), it ii fair to apply ^em both to the same source of wster." {Aforea, voL iii. p. 242, seq.) The grotto UKkang the fountain of Pdrene upon the Acrocorinthus a described by Gottling in the ArckaologUckeZeiimg for 1844 (p. 326, seq.). A representation of it b given in the DicL qfAnL (pw 544, 2nd ed jjb.^7g. 3>A The fountain of Pdrene is frequently roemnned vj ^ the andent writere. So celebrated was it that Co- rinth ia called by Pindar " the dty of Peirene" {imv n«i/M(ya5, Pind. OL ziii. 86), and the Corintluans are described in one of the oracles of the Pytbia st Delphi, as ** thoee dwdling around the beantifal Peirene" {pi w§fA jraX^ir Xltip^nir otVccrc, Herod, v. 92). The fountdn in the lower dty was the &• vourite pkoe of resort of the Corinthian dders, when they used to assemble to play at draughts and ooo- verse with one another ((rcMy^y d^^ Heip^s tim^ Eurip. Med. 69.) It was at the fountain of Pd- rene that Bellerophon is said to have caught the winged horse Pegasus, which is hence called by Euripides the Pdrenaean steeJ. (Eurip. irVecfr. 475; Strab. viii. p. 379.) As Pegasus was in some legends represented as the horse of the Moses, Peirene is mentioned by the Roman poets as a foun- tain sacred to these goddesses. ^Stat. SUv. L 4. 27 ; Pen. Prolog, 4.) The Roman poets frequently use the adjective Pirenit in the general sense of Co- rinthian. (Ov. Met vii. 39 1, ea; Pont. L 3. 75.) Notwithstanding the excellence of the water (f the Pdrene, the inhabitants of the Roman cdony were not contented with it; and the Emperor Hsdriaa accordingly constructed an aqueduct 20 miles in length, to bring water for them from Stymphalos. This aqueduct, as well as the native sources, sup- plied the public baths and fountains, which abounded in Corinth. (Pans. ii.3. § 5, viii. 22. § 8.) Sam remains of this aqueduct may still be seen not far from the sea, west of Corinth, near some mills upon the river lAmgo-potamoB, (Staufiert^ in the Ap- pendix to Forster^s Banuteiiuiufy 1844, p. 70.) Returning to the road leading firom the agora to '/. r ; •-/' Xt <•, ■/ L-'-^X-iMi^ ^
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/698
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