TRAVELLERS’ TEXTS REGARDING THE URBAN SETTLEMENT OF CORINTH
(Part of the here presented texts has been formerly uploaded in the web site http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/modernbazaar.html)
Randolph 1671-1679:
“Corinth, by the Turks Gouverned, is an Ancient City which stands on a Rising Ground, about Two Miles from the Sea of the Gulph of Lepanto. The Houses are much scattered, having many Fields amongst them, together with which they take up above Three Miles in compass. There are many pleasant Gardens with all sorts of Fruits. The Houses here are more for Trade and Pleasure than Security, most having other Houses up on the Castle which stands upon a Hill…It is above Two Miles from the Town to the Castle.”
Spon 1676:
“La ville est au Nord et au Nord-est de cette montagne. Il n’y a que deux Mosquees et une Eglise de Grecs appellee Panagia, ou demeure le Metroplitain de Corinthe.”
“Il n’y a quere plus de quinze cens ames dans Corinthe;` mais la campagne est pleine de villages et de Zeugaris ou Metairies. Entre Sycion et Corinthe nous en comptames jusqu’avingt-cinq. Ainsi je ne me etonne pas que le Cady ait, comme on dit, sous la jursidiction trois cent Villages.”
…Nous allames voir une douzaine de colonnes, qui paroissent de loin sur une eminence, un peu plus haute que le Bazar, a la maison du Vayvode.”
Wheler 1676:
“The plain of Corinth, toward Sicyon, or Basilico, is well-watered by two rivulets, well-tilled, well-planted with olive-yards and vine-yards, and having many little villages scattered up and down in it, is none the least of the ornaments of this prospect [from Acrocorinth]. The town also, that lieth north of the castle, in little knots of houses, surrounded with orchards, and gardens of oranges, lemons, citrons and cypress trees, and mixed with cornfields in between, is a sight no less delightful.”
“It [Corinth] is situated towards the right hand, just within the Isthmus, on the Peloponnesian Shore, being distant from the Gulph of Corinth, about a couple of Miles, and from the Saronick Gulph, at least six or seven….”
“It is not big enough now, to deserve the Title of a City; but may very well pass for a good considerable Country Town. It consists of the Castle, an the Town below it, North of it, and at almost a Miles distance nearer the Sea. The lower Town lieth pleasantly upon an easie Descent of the Ground towards the Gulph of Lepanto. The Buildings are not close together; but in parcels, of half a dozen or half a score, sometimes twenty together; but seldom more; with Gardens of Orange-trees, Lemons, and Cypress-trees about them, set with more Regularity, than is usual in these Countries; and such a distance is between the several Parcels or Buildings, as that they have Corn-fields between them. The Houses are more spruce here, than ordinary; and the biggest quarter is, where the Bazar, or Market place is, consisting of about fourscore, or an hundred Houses. There are two Mosques here, and one small church, called Panagia; at which the Arch-Bishop liveth, who was then absent: and few Marks either of his, or St. Paul’s Preaching, Pains or Care of; this famous Church of Corinth are now to be observed there.”
Pococke 1736:
“The antient city seems to have been on the spot of the present town, and to the west of it in the plain: without the town to the north there are great ruins of a large building of very thick walls of brick, which might be antient baths or the foundation of some very great building; for I observed that the rooms which are arched are very small:”
“…The present town is very small, and more like a village: they have an export of corn and some oil.”
Clarke 1800-1803:
coming from Sicyon “within a mile of Corinth we passed a fountain in a cavern upon our right, formed by a dropping rock consisting of a soft sand-stone. Farther up the hill and upon the same side of the road, as we entered the straggling town now occupying the site of the antient city, we observed some ruins and a quantity of broken pottery scattered upon the soil. The old city occupied an elevated level above the rich plain we had now passed. Upon the edge of this natural terrace, where it begins to fall towards the corn land, we found the flanked shaft of a Doric pillar of limestone, equal in its dimensions to any of the columns of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens. It was six feet and one inch in diameter. Close to this we observed the ground-plot of a building, once strongly fortified; that is to say a square platform fronting the plain and the sea: on this side of it is a precipice and its three other sides were surrounded by a fosse. The area measures 66 paces by 53; its major diameter being parallel to the seashore. Upon the opposite side within the fosse are also remains of other foundations; possibly of a bridge or causeway, leading into the area on that side.” tries to find a reference in Pausanius to the fountain to figure out the temple, but can’t so surmises it was destroyed when Pausanius came and so “if this be the case, it may be a relic of the Sisypheum; a mole or bulwark.”
“In going from the area of this building towards the magnificent remains of a Temple now standing above the bazar whence perhaps the doric pillar already mentioned may have been removed, we found the ruins of antient buildings; particularly of one partly hewn in the rock opposite to the said temple.”
“… This temple occupied the same situation with respect to the agora that the present ruin does with regard to the Bazar; and it is well-known that however the prosperity of cities may rise or fall, the position of the public mart for buying and selling usually remains the same.”
Dodwell 1801-1806 (1819):
“… we arrived at Corinth and lodged at the khan, which was full of rats and mice, and all kind of filth. … The present town of Corinth, though very thinly peopled, is of considerable extent. The houses are placed wide apart, and much space is occupied by gardens. There are some fine fountains in the town, one of which is extremely curious, on account of the fantastic ornaments with which it has been enriched by the singular combinations of Turkish taste”.
“The present town of Corinth, though very thinly peopled, is of considerable extent. The houses are placed wide apart, and much space is occupied by gardens. There are some fine fountains in the town, one of which is extremely curious, on account of the fantastic ornaments with which it has been enriched by the singular combinations of Turkish taste”.
Corinth is governed by a bey, whose command extends over 163 villages. The chief produce of the territory is corn, cotton, tobacco, and oil, and a better wine than that of Athens, which the Turks quaff freely in spite of their prophet, in order to counteract the bad effects of the air, which in summer is almost pestilential. … The bey resides in a large house at the north-east extremity of the town; his garden is ornamented with decapitated cypress trees, …”
“…The chief produce of the territory is corn, cotton, tobacco and oil and a better wine than that of Athens…”
Turner 1813:
His host tells him that there are 1300 houses in Corinth and 300 are Turkish, this includes those on Acrocorinth.
“The houses are very much scattered, and corn grows in the spaces between them.”
Bramsen 1813-1814:
“It is a long straggling place, but can boast of some tolerable good buildings. It is well-paved and its castle kept in better repair and in a more compleat state of defense than any I had for some time witnessed, but they want the convenience of a good harbour.”
Williams 1816:
All that remains are “a few Doric columns of an ancient temple, and some paltry foundations of a theater and a stadium.”
…500-600 houses, “and these scattered, irregular and with little feature.”
Cochrane 1826:
“There is nothing worth notice in Corinth but the fortress; the town itself from the succession of civil war which it has experienced is in a most dilapidated state.”
Keppel 1829-1830:
“The town of Corinth is one heap of ruins; a few newly-built huts are the only habitations now standing. Bones of men and horses lie scattered amongst the rubbish of fallen houses, and attest the last bloody massacre which visited this once prosperous town.”
“There was considerable cultivation near Corinth. To the westward we observed some vineyards and olive groves.”
Trant 1829-1830:
Not more than 100 cottages standing in ancient Corinth, one of the first towns destroyed and the last rebuilt.
Fitzmaurice 1832:
“Having got clear of the town which, though poor and insignificant, still straggles out a long way.”
Burgess 1834:
Lands at Lechaion: “After a walk of thirty-five minutes, came to a low broken cliff which forms a natural wall and has probably been used as such ever since the days of Cypselus and Periander. We easily surmounted this cliff and then traversed the stony lanes which wind among the ruined habitations: these conduct to the upper site of Corinth; and here some new houses have been built and a street is almost formed.”
…Population 600 “occupations lie chiefly in the fields.”
Quin 1834:
“The town is nearly as shapeless a mass of ruins as Athens itself. But even here the ‘restoration’ of Greece was beginning to exhibit itself in the construction of several new houses which are built in a plain substantial style.” (213)
Temple 1834:
Coming from Kencrae, via Hexamilia. “Having crossed the stream of Eupheeli, we soon reached a small collection of houses scattered through a large extent of others in ruins; and this, to my surprise, I found to be Corinth.” (58)
“The town was entirely destroyed during the last revolutionary war, but a few houses are rising out of the ashes; the bazaar is tolerably supplied….”
“In the rear [of Acro] are two roads, which winding through beautiful valleys and mountain passes, lead to Argos, Nauplia and etc.”
Addison 1835:
“The whole of the houses, with the exception of those just built, in the centre of the village, being heaps of ruins, destroyed by the Turks, or deserted by the inhabitants who have been thinned by the sword and the plague. Bare mud walls, roofless tenements and the shattered remnants of Turkish mosques present themselves on either side…We traversed a rugged path over stinging-nettles and stones, past a fragment of a marble column to the principle street, consisting of a few houses of wood and shops.”
Giffard 1836:
“Climbing over masses of masonry and by ruined walls, we at length arrived in the main streets of Corinth. Here there was some little appearance of life and trade, of which the suburbs gave no promise; houses were building and shops were opened, in some of which we recognized the handiworks of Birmingham.”
Perdicaris 1838-1839:
“The province of Corinth, though the largest in point of territorial extent, holds the sixth rank in point of population among the provinces of the Peloponnese. The present number is a little more than 25,000; while Mantinea, with half the extent, and most of this mountainous, has more than 53,000 people. Even in its present state of depopulation Corinth yields to the national treasury an annual income of more than 600,000 drachmas and might be made to yield three and even four times this amount under a different management…”
Th. du Moncel 1843-44:
“… in the word Corinth I was seeing the grandeur and the vicissitudes of this magnificent city…The ruins of Kiamil Bey’s palace are also worth mentioning, because they remind of the man’s sad and unhappy end”.
J.A. Buchon 1840:
“Kiamil-Bey had in Corinth a palace built below the ancient walls in a beautiful location, with the gardens descending towards the sea. He had there his harem, his baths, all built with an exquisite taste. … The palace, the harem, the gardens everything is in ruins. ”
Cusani 1840:
In 1840, there were 1500 inhabitants, “d’ogni parte sorgevano nuove fabbriche, e l’agricoltura rifioriva colla coltivazione dei grani, degli ulivi e della vite.”
Hettner 1852:
“The Corinth of to-day is a small town just struggling again into importance, with a few thousand inhabitants.”
Olin 1852:
“A few of the houses are substantially built of stone, most are mud cottages. The population is 1200. It must have been much larger before the revolution, judging from the ruined houses, which as everywhere else in Greece, attest to the barbarous spirit in which the fierce contest was waged.”
Howe 1853:
“Since the Greek revolution, quite a town has sprung up here, but the location is very unhealthy. This circumstance if no other, precluded it from becoming the capital of the new kingdom under Otto. There are many ruined and desolate walls of dwellings destroyed in the devastation of the revolution still standing.”
Baird 1855:
“On our return to Corinth, we spent a short time in the examination of the only objects of interest that remain in the site of a city which once exceeded Athens for commerce and population–a temple in the very midst of the modern village, and an amphitheater about three quarters of a mile east of it. …All the loose stones have been incorporated into the buildings of the village, to which they were so conveniently situated.”
“The village of Corinth barely contains a couple of thousand inhabitants. Its houses are low and poorly built.”
Burnouf 1856:
“L ville moderne est sur le sol de l’ancienne ville. Elle s’etend horizontalement et forme une zone etroite au pied de l’acrocorinthe. Trois gradins paralleles au rivage: Le premier est au pied de la montagne et supporte la ville moderne; le deuxieme est au-dessous, a la hauteur d’une tour qui porte le nom de Kiamyl Bey; le troisieme est a mi-chemin entre celui-ci et la mer; la plaine qui forme le dernier niveau est cette alluvion recente qui s’agrandit chaque jour et suit la rivage bien au de la Sicyone et jusque vers l’embouchure du Crathis. Entre la ville et la tour de Kaimyl-Bey s’entend un vaste champ de ruines; ce sont les maisons de la ville turque, detruites lors de la guerre de l’independence et dont les murailles a demi renversees recouvrent d’autres ruines que firent a d’autres epoques d’autres barbares.” (on that plain was destroyed the army of Drama Ali–28,000 men’s bodies lay there for a long time).”
Taylor 1857:
“A ride of half an hour brought us to Corinth–or rather what had been Corinth–for although a few houses were standing, they were cracked from top to bottom and had been abandoned. The greater part of the city was a shapeless heap of ruins and most of the inhabitants seemed to have deserted it.”
“The government decided to remove the town of Corinth to a new site on the plain, two or three miles nearer the gulf. No commencement has been made, however, and I doubt whether the people will second this measure.”
Clark 1858:
The village of Corinth is immediately below to the North “standing about those dark columns. The grounds about it, how green with wheat and maize and vines descends in a succession of terraces to the belt of the barren sand which lines the shore.”
“Of all the buildings, sacred and secular, of the old city, no trace remains, except a few unsightly heaps of Roman brickwork, which have outlived their history as completely as the pyramids. The ancient walls, famed for their dimensions have entirely disappeared.”
Pressense 1864:
“La nouvelle Corinthe n’est qu’un chef-lieu improvise. Que ne deviendrait pas une ville ainsisituee s’il y avait des routes pour le rejoindre, une protection efficace pour y maintenir la securite et un peu de cette confiance dans l’avenir sans laquelle l’esprit d’enterprise ne saurait se developper.”
Jerningham 1870:
“The site of old Corinth, which may before the great earthquake of 1858 have been a picturesque town, with its mosques and houses intermingling with cypresses and with gardens of orange and other fruit trees, but which now presents the dreariest of modern aspects.”
Belle 1875-1878:
All have moved to New Corinth.
Smith 1883:
“We drove into the streets, or rather the ruins, of old Corinth. Few villages are more desolate.”
“The chaos of broken walls which stand upon its site is all that remains of a town which was destroyed by the Turks and finally abandoned on account of repeated earthquakes.”
“Amongst the ruins, only two houses seemed not quite dismantled.” One was a priest’s house where they stayed. (104)
Κiamil Bey’s seraglio.
The Palace of Kiamil Bey was erected in the course of 18th c., in a large enclosure with harems, baths, kiosks and gardens, exhibiting its oriental feature. Today only a monumental stone stairway at the site «Loutra Aphrodite (Λουτρά Αφροδίτης, Baths of Venus)», which must have led to the prominent palace, can be identified as belonging to the saray of Κiamil Bey, once constructed across one of the northern promontories of the lower terrace of Corinth.
J. Woods quotes, 1828:
“The best house I have seen is that of the bey of Corinth ; the principal part of the building is in the form of the letter L, forming two sides of a square, and in the corner is a flight of steps leading to the gallery and the principal floor. This gallery is never omitted in any decent house ; it is always of wood, and the principal rooms open immediately into it. Our verandas seem to be imitated from it, but its greater depth, and projecting roof, with deeply ornamented eaves, render it much superior in effect. The entrance into this palace, like that of other houses, is by a court, but externally, the walls rise immediately on the summit of a steep, rocky bank, below which are the gardens, and it thus commands a view of the plain and gulf of Corinth, and the situation is very good both for seeing and being seen; though the almost naked plain of Corinth does not form a very fine foreground. Underneath the gallery, in the court, is a range of arches, which in England you might call Saxon, supported on short, round pillars, which do not correspond with the posts of the gallery above. The walls of this gallery have been ornamentally painted, but the painting and ornaments are almost gone. Beyond the part now described is a range of offices, and beyond these the women’s apartments, which are of course invisible.”
W. Leake 1802:
“… the most remarkable object of Corinth, the palace of Nuri Bey standing in a large enclosure near the middle of the cliff “.
Ed. Dodwell 1805-6:
“…. Corinth is governed by a bey, whose command extends over 163 villages. … The bey resides in a large house at the north-east extremity of the town; his garden is ornamented with decapitated cypress trees, which circumstance contradicts the authority of Theophrastus and Pliny, who assert that the cypress dies if its top is cut off”.
Fr. Pouqueville, 1826-27:
“…Kyamil bey, an indigenous Mohamedian could serve as a model for a painting of Apollo. Under the government of Kiamil bey, whose family is in charge of Corinthia for a century, this place has been more prosperous than any other in Greece. A ruined caravanserai (inn) is the only lodging open to foreigners”.
TRAVELLERS’ TEXTS REGARDING THE TEMPLE OF APOLLON
Nearly every traveller who visited Corinth mentions the temple, and the majority of the illustrations that survive are also of the temple. Three issues come up in the different descriptions: the identification of the temple, the reason for the destruction of four colums between 1776 and 1800, and the rediscovery of the columns after the War of Independence. The question of the temple’s identification is the most popular one for comment: 16 of the travellers either suggest a deity or discuss the variety of suggestions of others. Up to 1848, the suggestions vary wildly. Three suggest Octavia (one of which also suggests Juno), three Neptune (one of which also suggests Venus), two Juno (one of which also suggests Octavia) and three discuss the multiplicity of suggestions. After 1848, 5 of the seven travellers suggest Minerva Chalinitis. Interestingly, only one traveller, Keppel, suggested an identification with the Temple of Apollo, which is the current candidate and has been since its excavation at the turn of the century.
Three travellers comment on the destruction of the 4 columns. Clarke (1800) and Fuller (1818) both suggest that the owner destroyed the columns because he wanted to use the material for his building project, and Clarke names the owner as the Governor. Turner (1813) believes that the Turk wanted merely to make room for his addition. It is hard to know which explanation was the truth, and in fact, it might have been both.
The travellers who visit Corinth as it is being rebuilt after the War of Independence (1821-1829) describe the temple as if it had been buried with debris. In 1829, Keppel writes that five were found when the debris was cleared from that area. However, Trant, who also travelled in 1829, describes all seven. Fitzmaurice, who travelled in 1832, describes only three columns found. Estourmel, also travelling in 1832, notes that seven columns were found by soldiers. While everyone but Trant described the columns as having been “found” that seems possible, but as there is not complete accord between the four of them, and the number of columns found varies in a way that doesn’t make sense, it is hard to know exactly what was to be seen at this time. However, as this is the only abberation in terms of number of columns reported other than Leroy, it seems clear that something was making the counting of the columns difficult.
Dreux 1665-1669:
“Mais les Romains brulerent tellement cette belle ville quand ils las prirent qu’il n’y reste plus que quelques colonnes, qui sont les restes d’un ancien palais, et une ancienne porte de la ville…”
Spon 1675-1676:
“Nous sumes saluer Panagioti Cavallarie marchand Athenien, qui fait presque toujours la sa residence. Son frere demeure aussi au bazar et nous vimes chez luy une inscription Latine de Faustine femme de l’Empereur Antonin. Nous allames voir une douzaine de colonnes, qui paroissent de loin sur une eminence, un peu plus haute que le Bazar, a la maison du Vayvode. C’est le reste de quelque Temple des Payens. Ces colonnes me parurent le plus antiques qu’aucunes qu j’eusse jamais vues a cause de leur extraordinaire proportion. Car bien qu’elles soient d’Ordre Dorique, elles n’ont point la meme proportion que les autres qui se trouvent a Athenes, et ailleurs…(discusses measurements) Du reste elles sont semblables a celles d’Athenes etant canelees et sans base. Les architraves qui restent encore dessus sont de grandes pierres de 12 pieds de long.”
Wheler 1676:
“Some distance Westwards of this, (the house in which he found some inscriptions), and upon a Ground somewhat higher than the Bazar, we went to see eleven Pillars standing upright. They were of a Dorick Order, channeled like those about the Temple of Minerva, and Theseus at Athens: the matter of which Pillars we found to be ordinary hard Stone, not Marble: But their Proportion extraordinary; for they are eighteen foot about, which makes six foot Diameter, and not above twenty foot and an half high; the cylinder being twenty, an the Capitals two and an half…There is a Pillar standing within these, which has the same Diameter: but is much taller than the others, although it hath part broken off, and neither Capital nor Architrave, remaining near it: so that of what Order it was, is yet uncertain. The others are placed so with their architraves, that they shew, they made a Portico about the Cella of the Temple: And the single Pillar is placed so towards the Western-end within, as shews it supported the Roof of the Pronaos.”
Pococke 1736-1740:
“At the southwest corner of the town are 12 fluted doric pillars about five feet in diameter and very short in proportion…” (describes and compares with Parthenon, 7 pillars are to the west and 5 to the south, one pillar without a cap is near them).
Chandler 1765:
“The chief remains are at the southwest corner of the town and above the bazaar or market, 11 columns supporting their architraves, of the doric order, fluted, and wanting in height near half the common proportion to the diamter. Within them, toward the western end, is one taller, though not entire, which it is likely, contributed to sustain the roof.”
Dodwell 1801-1806:
“…But at present seven only are standing, which rest on one step.”
Clarke 1800-1803:
“In going from the area of this building towards the magnificent remains of a Temple now standing above the bazar whence perhaps the doric pillar already mentioned may have been removed, we found the ruins of antient buildings; particularly of one partly hewn in the rock opposite to the said temple. The outside of this exhibits the marks of clamps for sustaining slabs of marble once used in covering the walls, a manner of building perhaps, not of earlier date than the time of the Romans…” “In this building were several chambers all hewn in the rock, and one of them has still an oblong window remaining. We then visited the temple.” (remarks that Wheler found 11 but now there are only 7) (550-551)
“We found only seven remaining upright: but the fluted shaft before mentioned may originally have belonged to this building, the stone being alike in both; that is to say, common limestone, not marble, and the dimensions are, perhaps, exactly the same in both instances, if each column should be measured at its base.”
“The destruction that has taken place, of four columns out of the eleven seen by Wheler and Chandler, has been accomplished by the governor, who used them in building a house; first smashing them into fragments with gunpowder.”
He identifies the temple as that of Octavia. “…This temple occupied the same situation with respect to the agora that the present ruin does with regard to the Bazar; and it is well-known that however the prosperity of cities may rise or fall, the position of the public mart for buying and selling usually remains the same.”
Hughes 1813:
We “strolled through the town which contains little to remind the traveller of Corinthian splendour, except a few columns of some temple, which antiquarians find very difficult to identify: their antiquity is attested by their massive structure…”
Turner 1813:
“Corinth contains within its walls no remains of antiquity, but some small masses of ruined walls, and seven columns, with part of the frieze, of a Temple, of which some columns were pulled down to make room for a miserable Turkish house, to which it joins. These columns are about 60 feet high and 10 in circumference. They are supposed by some travellers (among whom, Dr. Leake) to be the ruins of the temple of Juno.”
Bramsen 1813-1814:
“…the antiquities of the place, which include, among many other objects worthy of attention, the remains of the temple of Juno, those of the temple of Octavia and the singular dripping fountain of the nymph Pirene…”
Williams 1816:
Identification of temple unknown: Juno, Venus, Neptune? Chandler says Sisypheum mentioned by Strabo. Proportions are like the Neptune temple at Paestum. (393-394)
Woods 1816-1818:
The temple “…figured in Stuart, the first building we saw of Grecian times. In his days eleven columns were still standing. Now there are only six, but is yet a magnificent ruin…”
Fuller 1818-1820:
“They [the columns] are of porous stone and were originally encrusted with a red cement, some traces of which still remain. When Chandler visited Corinth, and even down to a much later period, eleven of them were still standing, but the Turkish proprietor took down four the employ the materials in the rebuilding of his house.”
Keppel 1829-1830:
“A Cephaloniote has been commissioned by the government to erect some public buildings and the governors’ house is in progress. Near the site of this building, the workmen employed in clearing away the rubbish have discovered five Doric columns, belonging, I believe, to a temple dedicated to Apollo.”
Trant 1829-1830:
“In the town are seven columns of a Doric temple supposed to have been dedicated either to Venus or Neptune; they bear the marks of great antiquity and are singular, as the shafts are formed of but one piece.”
Fitzmaurice 1832:
“Of the ancient remains of Corinth there is nothing but the front of a Temple with three columns; certainly a poor specimin of its former architecture.”
Estourmel 1832:
“…Quelques soldats errent au milieu de ses debris, en cherchant a piller, et dans cette solitude, qui semble maudite, sept colonnes (Chandler eu trouver douze) d’ordre dorique, demeurees debout et qu’on croit avoir apartenu au Temple de Neptune, temoignent seules que, dans un autre temps, il fut des Dieux pour Corinthe…”
Burgess 1834:
“There exist but seven columns of a Temple or portico…the entablature resting upon five of them, one (marked 6) [he gives a schematic drawing of the locations] wants a capital, there are vestiges of tryglyphs.”
Author chooses to identify temple as the Portico of Octavia and therefore the temple is Augustan in his view.
Quin 1834:
“The celebrated ancient columns, each formed of one block of stone, which every traveller has noticed, are in Corinth, with the exception of the Acrocorinthus, the only objects worth attention in the way of ‘lionizing.'”
Temple 1834:
“Opposite the governor’s house are the remains of a Doric Temple…”
Addison 1835:
“Over these [shattered remains of Turkish mosques], in front, were seen the seven majestic Doric columns of the ancient temple and behind the lofty acropolis…”
Stephens 1835:
“…Seven columns of the old temple are still standing, fluted and of the Doric order…”
Giffard 1836:
“A Temple situated in the upper part of the town has given rise to much discussion as to the date of its erection and the deity to which it was dedicated.”
Blouet 1839:
“…Sur le point le plus eleve de ville, se retrouvent les ruines d’un temple: cinq colonnes de la facade posterieure resent encore debout, ainsi que deux de la partie laterale; presque toutes sont surmontees de l’architrave; elles sont en pierre calcaire et etaient couvertes d’un stuc qui les revet encore en plusiers endroits…Stuart, qui a donne une description desrestes de ce temple avait trouve quatorze colonnes debout lors de son voyage.”
Cusani 1840:
“Unici avanzi sono alcune colonne isolate nella parte piu alta della citta; (discussion of temple identification) e molti frammenti di cornici, capitelii e fregi adoperati invece di mattoni nelle nuove case, o dispersi fra i campi adjacenti.”
Denison 1848:
“We then mounted our horses and passed the seven celebrated columns supposed to have belonged to the temple of Minerva Chalamatis.”
Hettner 1852:
“They [the columns] show, moreover, evident traces of having been coated with stucco and colored red.” Identifies it as Athena Chalinitis.
Olin 1852:
“A single temple of all the splendid structures which adorned ancient Corinth, the most opulent and luxurious town of Greece, now remains, or rather seven columns remain to show where a magnificent temple of Neptune once stood.”
Howe 1853:
Identifies it as the temple of Minerva Chalamatis. “Of these [seven columns] three on the side and two adjoining on the front, still support their entablature; the architrave of both others is gone. They are limestone monoliths, near six feet in diameter at the base, heavy and ill-proportioned. This temple is supposed to have been erected in bc. 700, which may well account for its architectural defects. It stands in close proximity to the present village.”
Baird 1855:
“On our return to Corinth, we spent a short time in the examination of the only objects of interest that remain in thesite of a city which once exceeded Athens for commerce and population–a temple in the very midst of the modern village, and an amphitheater about three quarters of a mile east of it. The former is a hexastyle doric temple, of which only five columns belonging to the front and two on one of the sides are yet standing…”
Burnouf 1856:
“Le temple est a l’occident de la ville moderne, un peu vers le sud, au pied de l’Acrocorinthe, dans une position assez elevee pour qu’on poisse le voir de loin. Il est etabli sur la roche tertiaire dont l’escarpement forme le premier gradin de la plaine.”
7 columns, five with architrave, gives measurements.
“…On y voit encore de grands morceaux du stuc jaune dont elles etaient revetues.”
Taylor 1857:
“We passed awhile before the seven ancient Doric columns of the temple of Neptune, of the Corinthian Jove or of Minerva Chalcidis or whatever else they may be.”
“One of them [columns] has been violently split by the earthquake and a very slight impulse would throw it against its nearest fellow, probably to precipitate that in turn…”
Wyse 1858:
Identification of Athena Chalinits.
Pressense 1864:
“De vieille Corinthe il ne reste que cinq colones dorique d’un style tres lourd et un amphitheatre romain. Un tremblement de terre, survenu il y a dix ans a jonche le sol de ruines plus moderne.”
Jerningham 1870:
Identifies temple as Athena Chalinitis.
Belle 1875-1878:
“Elles sont criblees de trous carres creuses par les Turcs pour y placer les poutres des masures qu’ils avaient appuyees contre les ruines…Cette colonnade, rongee a la base, briser, jetee hors d’aplomb par les tremblements de terre.”
Mahaffy 1876:
“In the middle of the wretched straggling modern village there stand up seven enormous stone pillars of the Doric order…”
Freeman 1877:
“The columns stand over the modern village, over a site almost as desolate as that over which they must have stood in the hundred years between Mummius and Caesar. The other fragments, Greek and Roman, hardly come into view. But the lower city is not the true Corinth. It is the mountain citadel round which the great associations of the city gather.”
Miller 1894-1898:
“A few columns are all that is left.”
TRAVELLERS’ TEXTS REGARDING THE AREA OF THE BAZAAR (MARKET)
Spon 1676:
“Nous allames voir une douzaine de colonnes, qui paroissent de loin sur une eminence, un peu plus haute que le Bazar, a la maison du Vayvode.”
Wheler 1676:
“The Houses are more spruce here, than ordinary; and the biggest quarter is, where the Bazar, or Market place is, consisting of about fourscore, or an hundred Houses. There are two Mosques here, and one small church, called Panagia; at which the Arch-Bishop liveth, who was then absent: and few Marks either of his, or St.Paul’s Preaching, Pains or Care of ; this famous Church of Corinth are now to be observed there.”
“There is also another Ruin on the North-side of the Bazar, of Brick-work; which looks like part of some Temple or a Roman Bath.”
Clarke 1801-1803:
“In going from the area of this building towards the magnificent remains of a Temple now standing above the bazar whence perhaps the doric pillar already mentioned may have been removed, we found the ruins of antient buildings; particularly of one partly hewn in the rock opposite to the said temple.”
“…This temple occupied the same situation with respect to the agora that the present ruin does with regard to the Bazar; and it is well-known that however the prosperity of cities may rise or fall, the position of the public mart for buying and selling usually remains the same.”
Temple 1834:
“The town was entirely destroyed during the last revolutionary war, but a few houses are rising out of the ashes; the bazaar is tolerably supplied…”
Addison 1835:
“The whole of the houses, with the exception of those just built, in the centre of the village, being heaps of ruins, destroyed by the Turks, or deserted by the inhabitants who have been thinned by the sword and the plague. Bare mud walls, roofless tenements and the shattered remnants of Turkish mosques present themselves on either side…We traversed a rugged path over stinging-nettles and stones, past a fragment of a marble column to the principle street, consisting of a few houses of wood and shops.”
PRIMARY SOURCES: TRAVELLERS’ TEXTS
Addison, Charles G.. Damascus and Palmyra: A Journey to the East with a Sketch… Vol.1. London: Richard Bentley, 1838.
Baird, Henry M., Modern Greece: A Narrative of a Residence and Travels… New York: Harper and Brothers, 1856.
Belle, Henri. Trois Annees en Grece. Paris: Librarie Hachette, 1881.
Blouet, Abel. Expedition Scientifique de Moree Ordonee par le gouvernement. Vol. 3. Paris: Librarie de Firmin, Didot Freres, 1838.
Bramsen, John. Travels in Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, the Morea, Greece and Italy. Vol. 2. London: Henry Colbourne and Co., 1820.
Breton, Ernest. Quatre Jours dans Le Peloponese. Paris: L. Guerin et Cie, Theodore Morgund, Librarie Depositaire, 1860.
Burgess, Richard. Greece and the Levant, or Diary of a Summers excursion, 1834. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Braun, Green and Longman, 1835.
Burnouf, Emile. D’Athens a Corinthe: Extrait des nouvelles annales de voyage. Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1856.
Chandler, Richard. Travels in Greece ..at the expense of the soc. of Dilettanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1776.
Chenavard, Ant. M. Voyage en Grece et dans le Levant fait en 1843-1844. Lyon: Leon Boitel, 1846.
Clark, W. G. Peloponnesus: Notes of Study and Travel. London: John Parker and Son, 1858.
Clarke, Edward Daniel. Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. Vol. 6. London: T.Cadell and W.Davies, 1810-1823.
Cochrane, George. Wanderings in Greece. Vol. 2. London: Henry Colburn, 1837.
Cusani, Francesco. La Dalmazia, le Isole Ionie e la Grecia (visitate nel 1840). Vol.1. Milano: Tipographia e Libreria Pirott a E.C., 1846.
Denison, Lord Albert. Wanderings in Search of Health. London: for Private Circulation, 1849.
Dodwell, Edward. A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece:1801, 05, 06. Vol. 2,, London: Rodwell and Martin, 1819.
Dreux, Robert de. Voyage en Turquie et en Grece. Paris: Societe d’edition, Les Belles Lettres, 1925.
Estourmel, Joseph. Journal d’un Voyage en Orient. Vol. 1,. Paris: de l’Imprimerie de Crapelet, 1844.
Fitzmaurice, W.E.. A Cruise to Egypt, Palestine and Greece during 5 months leave. London: John Hill, 1834.
Freeman, Edward A.. Studies of Travel: Greece and Italy. New York, London: G. Putnam’s Sons, 1893.
Fuller, John. Narrative of a Tour through some parts of the Turkish Empire. London: John Murray, 1830.
Giffard, Edward. A Short Visit to the Ionian Islands, Athens and the Morea. London: John Murray, 1837.
Grellet, Stephen. Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labours of Stephen Grellet. Vol. 2. London: A.W. Bennett 1862.
Hettner, Hermann. Athens and the Peloponnese with sketches of N. Greece. Edinburgh: Thos. Constable and Co., 1853.
Howe, Fisher. Turkey, Greece and Palestine in 1853. Glasgow: William Collins, 1854.
Hughes, Thomas Smart. Travels in Sicily, Greece and Albania. Vol. 1. London: J. Mawman, 1820.
Jerningham, Hubert E. H.. To and From Constantinople. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1873.
Keppel, George. Narrative of a Journey across the Balkan…in 1829-1831. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831.
Leake, William Martin. Travels in the Morea. Vol. 3. London, 1830.
Mahaffy, J.B.. Rambles and Studies in Greece. London: MacMillan and Company, 1876.
Miller, William. Travel and Politics in the Near East. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1898.
Mure, William. Journal of a Tour in Greece and the Ionian Islands. Vol. 2. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1842.
Olin, Stephen. Greece and the Golden Horn. New York: J.C. Derbey, 1854.
Perdicaris, G.A.. The Greece of the Greeks. Vol. 2. New York: Paine and Burgess, 1845.
Pococke, Richard. A Description of the East and some Other Countries. London: W. Boyer, 1743-1750.
Pressense, Edmond de. Le Pays de l’Evangile: Notes d’un Voyage en Orient. Paris: Librarie de Ch. Meyrueis, 1864.
Quin, Michael. A Steam Voyage down the Danube with sketches of…etc. Vol. 2. London: Richard Bentley, 1836.
Randolph, Bernard. The Present State of the Morea called anciently Peloponnesus. London: Will. Notts, 1686-1689.
Smith, Agnes. Glimpses of Greek Life and Scenery. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1884.
Spon, Jacob. Voyage d’Italie, de Dalmatie de Grece et du Levant fait 1675. Lyon: Antoine Cellier, 1678.
Stephens, J.L.. Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland. Vol. 1. New York: Harper and Bros., 1838.
Taylor, Bayard. Travels in Greece and Russia, with an excursion to Crete. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1859.
Temple. Sir Grenville, Travels in Greece and Turkey and the Mediterranean. Vol. 1. London: Saunders and Otley, 1843.
Trant. T. Abercromby, Narrative of a Journey through Greece in 1830… London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830.
Turner. William. Tour in the Levant. Vol. 1. London: John Murray, 1820.
Wheler, George. A Journey to Greece. London: William Cadman, Robert Kettlewell, Awnsham Chruch, 1682.
Williams, Hugh W. Travels in Italy, Greece and the Ionian Islands. Vol. 2. London: 1820.
Woods, James. Letters of an Architect, from France, Italy and Greece. Vol. 2. London: John and Arthur Arch, 1828.
Wyse, Sir Thomas. An Excursion in the Peloponnese in the year 1858. Vol. 2. London: 1865.
Yemeniz, Eugene. Voyage dans le Royaume de Grece. Paris: E. Dentu, 1854.
PRIMARY SOURCES: ILLUSTRATIONS
Bartlett, W. Corinth in 1842. (postcard, reprint of print)
Blouet, Abel. Expedition Scientifique de Moree Ordonee par le gouvernement. Vol. 3, 1838.
Coronelli, in Corinth Vol 1 Part 1. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932, p. 134.
Dodwell, Edward. A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece:1801, 05, 06. Vol. 2, 1819.
Le Roy, Les Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece. Vol 2.
Mayer, Luigi. Views in the Ottoman Empire Chiefly in Caramania… 1803.
Smith, Agnes. Glimpses of Greek Life and Scenery. 1884.
Stuart, James and Nicholas Revett. The Antiquities of Athens. Vol. 3, 1794.
Von Stackelberg Williams, H.W. Select Views in Greece with Classical Illustrations. London: 1829.
PRIMARY SOURCES: MAPS
Greek Army Map Service. Village Plan, 1963. Computer version courtesy of Corinth Computer Project, 1996.
G.E. Schaubert (?). Plan Von Korinthe. 1831-33? Computer version courtesy of Corinth Computer Project. Copy from Corinth Archives, Ancient Corinth, Greece.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Blue Guide to Greece, Robin Barber, ed. London, 1993.
Cantwell, Robert. Ethnomimesis: Folklife and the Representation of Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
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Fowler, Harold N. “Introduction” Corinth Volume I: Introduction, Topography, Architecture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. pp. 3-17.
Glassie, Henry. Passing the Time in Ballymenone. Bloomington: Indian University Press, 1995.
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Van der Vin, J.P.A. Travellers to Greece and Constantinople: Ancient Monuments and Old Traditions in Medieval Travellers’ Tales. Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut Ti Istanbul, 1980.
Walsh, Kevin. The Representation of the Past: Museums and Heritage in the Post-modern World. New York: Routledge, 1992.
Weber, Shirley. Voyages and Travels in Greece and the Near East and Adjacent Regions, Made Previous to the Year 1801. Princeton: American School for Classical Study, 1953.
——–. Voyages and Travels in the Near East in the XIX Century. Princeton: American School for Classical Study, 1952.
Eleni I. Kanetaki