Corinth (/ˈkɒrɪnθ/ KORR-inth; Greek: Κόρινθος, romanized: Kórinthos, Modern Greek pronunciation: [ˈkorinθos]) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient city of Corinth, it 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.[2] 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 the ancient city.
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Historical references begin with the early 8th century BC, when ancient Corinth began to develop as a commercial center.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 unification of Greece, the Acrocorinth was the seat of a Macedonian garrison until 243 BC, when the city 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.[3]
An important earthquake touched Corinth and its region in 856, causing around 45000 deaths.[4]
In 1858, the old city, now known as Ancient Corinth (Αρχαία Κόρινθος, Archaia Korinthos), located three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the modern city, was totally destroyed by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake. New Corinth (Nea Korinthos) was then built to the north-east 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.[5] In 1933, there was a great fire, and the new city was rebuilt again.
During the German occupation in World War II, the Germans operated a Dulag transit camp for British, Australian, New Zealander and Serbian prisoners of war and a forced labour camp in the town.[6][7]
Located about 78 kilometres (48 mi) west of Athens, Corinth is surrounded by the coastal townlets of (clockwise) Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site and village of ancient Corinth. Natural features around the city include the narrow coastal plain of Vocha, the Corinthian Gulf, the Isthmus of Corinth cut by its canal, the Saronic Gulf, the Oneia Mountains, and the monolithic rock of Acrocorinth, where the medieval acropolis was built.
According to the nearby weather station of Velo, operated by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, Corinth has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. The hottest month is July with an average temperature of 28.7 °C (83.7 °F) while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of 9.1 °C (48.4 °F). Corinth receives about 463 mm of rainfall per year and has an average annual temperature of 18.1 °C (64.6 °F).