Corinthian Matters

A Resource for the Study of the Corinthia, Greece

Category: Territory

“The Bridge of the Untiring Sea”. A New Book about the Isthmus

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The closest I came to the Corinthia this year was a flight over the Isthmus en route to JFK from Athens. A very busy spring semester led directly to a productive field and museum season of the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project in May-early June. Now that I’m back in the US and the summer stretches before me, I have a little more time to release some Corinthiaka updates, news items, and reviews.

One important update is that the long-awaited book titled “The Bridge of the Untiring Sea”: The Corinthian Isthmus from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, has now entered proof stage and is scheduled for publication in late August. Edited by Elizabeth R. Gebhard and Timothy E. Gregory, this work publishes a conference held in 2007 at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens to celebrate 50 years of archaeological work at Isthmia and across the broader Isthmus. Here’s the book cover and description:

Pindar’s metaphor of the Isthmus as a bridge spanning two seas encapsulates the essence of the place and gives a fitting title for this volume of essays on the history and archaeology of the area. The Isthmus, best known for the panhellenic sanctuary of Poseidon, attracted travelers both before and after Pausanias’s visit in the 2nd century A.D., but only toward the end of the 19th century were the ruins investigated and, after another half century, finally systematically excavated. More recently, archaeologists have surveyed the territory beyond the sanctuary, compiling evidence for a varied picture of activity on the wider Isthmus and the eastern Corinthia. The 17 essays in this book celebrate 55 years of research on the Isthmus and provide a comprehensive overview of the state of our knowledge. Topics include an early Mycenaean habitation site at Kyras Vrysi; the settlement at Kalamianos; the Archaic Temple of Poseidon; domestic architecture of the Rachi settlement; dining vessels from the Sanctuary of Poseidon; the Temple Deposit at Isthmia and the dating of Archaic and early Classical Greek coins; terracotta figurines from the Sanctuary of Poseidon; the Chigi Painter; arms from the age of Philip and Alexander at Broneer’s West Foundation on the road to Corinth; new sculptures from the Isthmian Palaimonion; an inscribed herm from the Gymnasium-Bath complex of Corinth; Roman baths at Isthmia and sanctuary baths in Greece; Roman buildings east of the Temple of Poseidon; patterns of settlement and land use on the Roman Isthmus; epigraphy, liturgy, and Imperial policy on the Justinianic Isthmus; and circular lamps in the Late Antique Peloponnese.

I’m jazzed to see this volume in print. I have not seen any of these pieces other my own (obviously!) and Caraher’s piece on the Justinianic Isthmus. Most of the essays in the volume naturally focus on areas where the most fieldwork has occurred, especially in and around the Panhellenic sanctuary at Isthmia. A few consider the broader landscape of the eastern Corinthia including even places that are not on the Isthmus such as Kalamianos in the southeast Corinthia. 

Here’s the publication page for the book at the ASCSA website. The book is available for pre-ordering at Oxbow and Amazon, among other places.

The First Urban Churches: Roman Corinth (In the Works)

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A couple of years ago, I had the good fortune of participating in a session at the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) conference on the theme of Polis and Ekklesia: Investigations of Urban Christianity. The paper I delivered outlined new perspectives on the diolkos and the implications of this research for understanding the commercial backdrop of the early Christian communities at Corinth.

The good news is that this session will soon be published by SBL as part of a multi-volume series on Polis and Ekklesia edited by James R Harrison and L.L. Welborn. The first three volumes are either in the works or forthcoming:

The First Urban Churches. Volume 1: Methodology: As the editors

have summarized this volume, “This book, comprising all the invited papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (SanFranciso, 2011) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the responsible use of documentary (papyrological, epigraphic), numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of cities, their inhabitants and neighbours in antiquity. This volume forms a preface to the study of the significant biblical cities in the first-century AD, charted in the subsequent eight volumes of the series.”

The First Urban Churches. Volume 2: Roman Corinth. According to the editors, “This book, comprising all the papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (Chicago, 2012) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the epigraphic, numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of Roman Corinth in the early Christian era.”

The First Urban Churches. Volume 3: Ephesus. According to the editors, “This book, comprising all the papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (Baltimore, 2013) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the epigraphic, numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of Ephesus in the early Christian era.”

Here’s an outline for the second volume on Roman Corinth, which is scheduled for delivery to the press later this year: 

1. Laurence L. Welborn, “Polis and Ekklesia: Investigating Roman Corinth in Its Urban Context”

2. Cavan Concannon, “Negotiating Multiple Modes of Religion and Identity at Roman Corinth”

3. Kathy Ehrensperger, “Negotiating Polis and Ekklesia: Challenge and Re-Assurance in 1 Cor 12:1-11”

4. Michael Peppard, “Roman Controversiae about Inheritance Disputes and 1 Corinthians 6”

5. David Pettegrew, “Lost in the Country: Corinthian Territory and the Early Christian Communities of the 1st Century CE”

6. Annette Weisenreider, “Bodies and Space: Sitting or Reclining in 1 Corinthians 14:30”

7. Brad Bitner, “Τὰ γραφέντα PRO ROSTRIS LECTA: Bilingual Inscribing in Roman Corinth”

8. Fredrick J Long, “‘The god of This Age’ (2 Cor 4:4) and Paul’s Empire-Resisting Gospel”

9. Laurence L. Welborn, “Paul, the Politics of ‘Equality’ and the Power Monopoly of the Corinthian Elite”

10. James R Harrison, “The Cursus Honorum in the Roman Colonies of Corinth and Philippi: Consequences for Paul’s Gospel and Rhetoric”

I spent much of January revising my 2012 conference paper and adding substance. My chapter, “Lost in the Country: Corinthian Territory and the Early Christian Communities of the 1st Century CE,” offers case studies in how the countryside / landscape might intersect with the study of the first Christians. In particular, I want to highlight the territory as a fundamental part of the “polis” in Roman times. Here’s the working abstract.

“Corinthian territory has occupied a paradoxical role in the modern scholarship surrounding Paul’s mission to Corinth and the Christian community in conflict. In one respect, the isthmian crossroads has functioned as an essential backdrop to understanding the population’s maritime orientation, commercial proclivities, and general tendencies to immorality and division. The twin harbors of Lechaion and Kenchreai, the pan-Hellenic sanctuary at Isthmia, and the diolkos allegedly made Corinth a city of transients at a great crossroads of the ancient world. In another respect, scholars have regularly disregarded the territory in their discussions of the Corinthian correspondence as though the region beyond the city’s boundaries was of little concern or interest to the earliest Christians. In this paper, I propose a different way of thinking about the intersections of the early Christian community with the countryside. Through a series of case studies on the diolkos, canal, harbors, and agriculture, I highlight the contingent developments of the territory and their effects on the developing ekklesia. The region was not a timeless commercial thoroughfare but developed historically in the course of the first century CE. This paper, then, recommends greater attention to the historical developments of the territory and their influence on the local religious communities.”

I’ll post more as this collection of essays moves toward publication.

2013-2014 Publications in Corinthian Studies: New Testament, Christianity, and Judaism

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This is the fourth and final post in a series of bibliographic releases of new Corinthian scholarship published or digitized in 2013-2014. See this post last last Monday for further information about the sources of this bibliography and instructions for accessing the Zotero database. For earlier releases, see these posts:

Today’s list presents scholarship published or digitized in 2013 and 2014 related in some way to the subjects of Christianity, Judaism, and early Christianity. This includes some scholarship on the Hellenistic and early Roman “backgrounds” of Christianity and Judaism but most of this material focus directly on questions of religion.

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I have divided these reports by year to keep them manageable. Download the PDFs by right clicking on these link:

I generated these reports through Zotero tags and searches, and there are undoubtedly missing entries as well as false positives. For best results, visit the Zotero library or download the RIS file into your bibliographic program.

If you see references missing from the list, please send to corinthianmatters@gmail.com

A New Book on Rural Villas in Roman Greece

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David Smith’s recent article in Archaeological Reports notes the publication of a new book titled Villae Rusticae: Family and market-oriented farms in Greece under Roman rule. Proceedings of an International Congress held at Patras, 23-24 April 2010. Edited by A.D. Rizakis and I.P. Touratsoglou, the publishers (Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation) describe the content of the volume in this way:

“As that of other provinces of the Empire, the rural economy of Greece underwent many changes as well, with important implications for the strategies and organization of the production, as well as for the distribution and consumption of goods. Thanks to the extraordinary mass of archaeological data collected in Greece in the last decades, and to the possibility of applying both more sophisticated research instruments and more profitable methods of approach and analysis of these data, a re-examination of a regional case study such as Roman Greece is now more feasible. The publication in this volume of material remains – remarkable both for number and quality, from various in size productive complexes– and the synthetic studies on the other hand will provide students of the ancient world with an invaluable material which will greatly contribute to a better understanding of the economic organization of this part of the Roman Empire. It will also represent a point of reference for the study of both the rural world and more specific the economy of the cities of a small but not insignificant Roman administrative unit.”

Running 800 pages long, Smith may be right that Villae Rusticae will become “a standard text for the study of the rural economy of Roman Greece.”At the moment, however, there seem to be few libraries in the world that actually own a copy. I couldn’t find a loaning library in the U.S. via Interlibrary Loan, and the price is a hefty 120 €, plus shipping. An article or two are available for free on the National Hellenic Research Foundation website, and I found one or two more via Academia. It would be wonderful if the publisher would release a PDF version of the entire volume as they did with their Roman Peloponnese series.

The table of contents, available here, lists chapters mainly in Greek, with a few English, Italian, and French contributions.

Archaeological Reports (Journal of Hellenic Studies)

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The 2014 volume of Archaeological Reports is now out and promises some interesting new studies of the northeast Peloponnese and Greece.

If you’re not familiar with Archaeological Reports, the journal is published by the British School at Athens and offers “the only account of recent archaeological work in Greece published in English.”

Table of Contents:

“Introduction & overview” (Zosia Archibald)

“2013–2014 — a view from Greece” Catherine Morgan

“Newsround” (David M. Smith and Helen Murphy-Smith)

“Method in the archaeology of Greece”(Zosia Archibald)

“The work of the British School at Athens, 2013–2014” (Catherine Morgan)

“The city of Athens” (Robert Pitt)

“The Classical naval installations in the Piraeus” (Chryssanthi Papadopoulou)

“Central Greece and the Peloponnese (Archaic to Roman)” (David M. Smith)

“Recent epigraphic research in central Greece: Boeotia” (Fabienne Marchand)

“Crete (prehistoric to Hellenistic)” (Matthew Haysom)

“Macedonia and Thrace: Iron Age to post-Roman urban centres” (Zosia Archibald)

“Archaeobotany in Greece” (Alexandra Livarda)

“Rural sites in Roman Greece” (Daniel Stewart)

IF you visit the table of of contents online here, you can click on article titles to see an abstract or opening paragraph.

Two articles that caught my attention:

1. Smith, David M. “Central Greece and the Peloponnese (Archaic to Roman).” Archaeological Reports 60 (November 2014): 55–71. doi:10.1017/S0570608414000088.

The much shorter Archaiologikon Deltion for the single year of 2005 invariably offers far fewer reports on the work of the Archaeological Service than the four-year volume with which we were presented last year. This, in itself, is no bad thing, although the geographical and chronological balance generated by such a large dataset is notable by its absence. This unevenness is, as ever, partially offset by the publication of fieldwork, although certain areas maintain a far more visible archaeological presence than others. This is particularly true for the northeastern Peloponnese, which has, in recent years, been the recipient of an almost unparalleled focus of both research and rescue excavation; a fact reflected in the significant contribution made to this year’s report by the edited proceedings of the conference The Corinthia and the Northeast Peloponnese: Topography and History from Prehistoric Times until the End of Antiquity (Kissas and Niemeier 2013). A total of 56 individual papers provide details on sites that range in date from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. A great strength of this collection lies in the contribution of so many current and former staff of the Archaeological Service, and, of the numerous papers that engage directly or indirectly with the archaeology of the Archaic to Roman period, several are discussed in greater depth in the course of this report. A complementary Hesperia supplement detailing the current state of prehistoric and historic research on the Corinthian Isthmus is due to appear before the end of the year (Gebhard and Gregory forthcoming), as is a study of material from Henry Robinson’s 1961–1962 excavation in the North Cemetery (Slane forthcoming). The study of religious practice during the Classical period benefits from the publication of the first volume of material from excavations conducted by the Canadian Institute in Greece between 1994 and 2001 in the Sanctuary of Athena at Stymphalos (Schaus 2014a), while the consolidation of synthetic regional studies and individual site reports within Villae Rusticae: Family and Market-oriented Farms in Greece under Roman Rule (Rizakis and Touratsoglou 2013) will no doubt ensure that it becomes a standard text for the study of the rural economy of Roman Greece (see Stewart, this volume).

2. Stewart, Daniel. “Rural Sites in Roman Greece.” Archaeological Reports 60 (November 2014): 117–32. doi:10.1017/S0570608414000131.

[W]hile pretending to throw some light upon classical authors by careful observation of the manners of the present day, romantic travellers succeeded in fact in accommodating reality to their dreams … by creating for themselves and for their readers carefully edited portraits of modern Greece that transformed the present into the living image of the past (Saïd 2005: 291).

Thirty years ago archaeological field survey promised to reshape radically our understanding of the countryside (Keller and Rupp 1983: 1–5). Traditional archaeological approaches to cities and monuments were increasingly seen to be extensions of textual research, and research on the rural landscape was envisaged as a way to access the other side of the traditional urban-rural dichotomy (though see the comments in Alcock 2007: 671–72). Some scholars estimated that, in the Classical period, the vast majority of Greek poleis had populations of less than 3,000 and territories no more than a few hours” walk from the urban core. Given that, they asked, does it make sense to divide elements of Greek life into “city” and “country”? In a sense, the study of landscapes was seen as a way to redress perceived imbalances between this urban-rural division and the picture painted by the ancient sources of Roman Greece as a pale reflection of its Classical brilliance. In the years since, landscape studies have grown to include much more than archaeological field survey, but this tension between textual and archaeological narratives remains at the heart of understandings of rural Roman Greece.

Corinthian Scholarship Monthly (December-February). Part 2

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Here is the second part to last week’s post about new scholarship in the last three months.

You can find the full collection of articles and books related to Corinthian studies at the Corinthian Studies Zotero Page. If you don’t see URLs for articles and books below (they sometimes don’t transfer in the copy), visit the Zotero group page. The new entries are tagged according to master categories .ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY or .NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY CHRISTIAN.

As I noted previously, Version 2 of the library in RIS format is scheduled to be released by summer. I am always looking for reviewers of articles or books listed in the CSM posts. If you can write and are qualified, drop me a line.

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Adams, Edward. The Earliest Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses? A&C Black, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=FNBBAgAAQBAJ.

Angeli Bernardini, Paola, ed. Corinto: luogo di azione e luogo di racconto : atti del convengo internazionale, Urbino, 23-25 settembre 2009. Pisa [etc.]: F. Serra, 2013. http://www.libraweb.net/result1.php?dettagliononpdf=1&chiave=2848&valore=sku&name=Luogo.jpg&h=870&w=600.

Balzat, Jean-Sébastien, and Benjamin W. Millis. “M. Antonius Aristocrates: Provincial Involvement with Roman Power in the Late 1st Century B.C.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no. 4 (December 2013): 651–72. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0651.

Batchvarov, Kroum N. “Clay Pipes and Smoking Paraphernalia from the Kitten Shipwreck, an Early Nineteenth-Century Black Sea Merchantman.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 18, no. 1 (March 1, 2014): 1–19. doi:10.1007/s10761-013-0244-z.

Bradshaw, Paul F. Rites of Ordination: Their History and Theology. Liturgical Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=shQpnQEACAAJ.

Çakırlar, C., S. Ikram, and M-H. Gates. “New Evidence for Fish Processing in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean: Formalised Epinephelus Butchery in Fifth Century Bc Kinet Höyük, Turkey.” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, January 1, 2014, n/a–n/a. doi:10.1002/oa.2388.

Docter, Roald, and Babette Bechtold. “Two Forgotten Amphorae from the Hamburg Excavations at Carthage (Cyprus, and the Iberian Peninsula) and Their Contexts.” Carthage Studies 5 (2011) (2013): 91–128.

Forbes, Hamish A. “Off-Site Scatters and the Manuring Hypothesis in Greek Survey Archaeology: An Ethnographic Approach.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no. 4 (December 2013): 551–94. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0551.

Hall, Jonathan M. Artifact and Artifice: Classical Archaeology and the Ancient Historian. University of Chicago Press, 2014.

Heil, Andreas, and Gregor Damschen, eds. Brill’s Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist. Leiden: Brill, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=9jqOAgAAQBAJ.

Jones, Catherine M. “Theatre of Shame: The Impact of Paul’s Manual Labour on His Apostleship in Corinth.” PhD Thesis, University of St. Michael’s College, 2013. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/43420.

Laios, K., G. Tsoucalas, M. Karamanou, and G. Androutsos. “The Medical–Religious Practice of Votive Offerings and the Representation of a Unique Pathognomonic One Inside the Asclepieion of Corinth.” Journal of Religion and Health, 2013, 1–6. doi:10.1007/s10943-013-9811-1.

Lambert, Craig. “Norman Naval Operations in the Mediterranean.” Journal for Maritime Research 15, no. 2 (2013): 241–43. doi:10.1080/21533369.2013.852314.

Last, Richard. “Money, Meals and Honour: The Economic and Honorific Organization of the Corinthian Ekklesia.” PhD Thesis, University of Toronto, 2013.

Nichols, Aidan. Figuring out the Church: Her Marks, and Her Masters. Ignatius Press, 2013.

Polinskaya, Irene. A Local History of Greek Polytheism: Gods, People and the Land of Aigina, 800-400 BCE. Leiden: Brill, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=8FqNAgAAQBAJ.

Punt, Jeremy. “Framing Human Dignity through Domination and Submission? Negotiating Borders and Loyalties (of Power) in the New Testament.” Scriptura 112 (2013): 1–17. doi:10.7833/112-0-82.

Reed, David Alan. “Paul on Marriage and Singleness:  Reading 1 Corinthians with the Augustan Marriage Laws.” PhD Thesis, University of St. Michael’s College, 2013. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/43426/1/Reed_David_A_201311_PhD_thesis.pdf.

Rowan, Clare. “Coinage as Commodity and Bullion in the Western Mediterranean, Ca. 550–100 BCE.” Mediterranean Historical Review 28, no. 2 (2013): 105–27. doi:10.1080/09518967.2013.837638.

Saliari, Konstantina, and Erich Draganits. “Early Bronze Age Bone Tubes from the Aegean: Archaeological Context, Use and Distribution.” Archeometriai Műhely [Archaeometry Workshop], 2013, 179–92.

Schoenborn, Christoph Cardinal. The Source of Life: Exploring the Mystery of the Eucharist. Ignatius Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=oydLAgAAQBAJ.

Spinks, Bryan D. Do This in Remembrance of Me: The Eucharist from the Early Church to the Present Day. SCM Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=-309AgAAQBAJ.

Stoneman, Richard. Pindar. I.B.Tauris, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=jwlgAgAAQBAJ.

Thiessen, Matthew. “‘The Rock Was Christ’: The Fluidity of Christ’s Body in 1 Corinthians 10.4.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 36, no. 2 (December 1, 2013): 103–26. doi:10.1177/0142064X13506171.

Toffolo, Michael B., Alexander Fantalkin, Irene S. Lemos, Rainer C. S. Felsch, Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Guy D. R. Sanders, Israel Finkelstein, and Elisabetta Boaretto. “Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.” PLoS ONE 8, no. 12 (December 26, 2013): e83117. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083117.

Wallace, Christopher. “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani.” Historia 63, no. 1 (2014): 38–73.

———. “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani.” Historia 63, no. 1 (2014): 38–73.

Walsh, Justin St P. Consumerism in the Ancient World: Imports and Identity Construction. Routledge, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=XU83AgAAQBAJ.

Archaeological Sites and Hours

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Planning a trip to the Corinthia soon? The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports has been slowly adding data since 2012 related to the major sites of the Corinthia through their ODYSSEUS Portal. Posted information includes access and hours, ticket pricing, student discounts, amenities, suggested bibliography, among others. Mind you, hours and times are subject to change, but the information will at least get you in the ballpark.

Close the window

There’s a small collection of images associated with the site pages. Check out this beautiful aerial photo of Lechaion harbor from the Lechaion Port page.

I have added these links to a new sidebar titled “Corinthian Sites – Hours and Access”.

 

Caveats added Feb. 27 from G. Sanders’ comments on the Corinthian Studies Facebook page: If you’ve been to Corinth before, don’t count on the old way of getting there. The bridge was just removed at the exit to (ancient) Corinth to widen the Athens-Patras highway. If you stay on the highway to Patras, you’ll have to double back at Kiato. To arrive at Corinth, exit at the Isthmus, or take the exit to New Corinth (the first exit after the Isthmus). If you exit to new Corinth, turn left and then make a hard right, or make a right and then left past the train station.

Re: hours. New guards are being hired and the site will be open 8 AM to 8 PM during summer months.

The Corinthia and the Northeast Peloponnese

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Thanks to Jeremy Ott in notifying the Corinthian Studies FB group that the long-awaited publication of the Loutraki 2007 conference is now available in print:

W.-D. Niemeier and N Kissas, eds., The Corinthia and the Northeast Peloponnese: Topography and history from prehistoric times until the end of antiquity. 2013: Hirmer Verlag GmbH.

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I’m guessing these will be in limited supply, and there certainly won’t be a paperback version, so I ordered myself a copy.

Here’s a description of the book at Amazon:

In March 2009 the international conference for which this volume is named was held in Loutraki by the 37th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture’s Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, and the German Archaeological Institute of Athens. The results of research carried out by international research institutes and individual researchers working in Corinthia, and first and foremost by the Greek Antiquities Service, were presented at the conference.

I’ll give it a fuller overview when my copy arrives.

The Isthmus of Corinth Project

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No end in sight for winter here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but a new semester is under way, and with that, you should see a little more activity here at Corinthian Matters.

Over the last six weeks, I’ve been busy bringing to completion a book on Corinth’s eastern landscape titled — at least for the moment — The Isthmus of Corinth: Crossroads of the Mediterranean World. As the book has been a long time in the making, it felt a bit strange when I completed the conclusions last Monday early in the morning, and sent the work back to the publisher for review. 

Generally, the work is a diachronic study of the changes in the conception and material structure of Corinth’s Isthmus from about the sixth century BC to fourth century AD. My temporal focus is the landscape in the broad Roman era, but the Roman landscape is wrapped up in the classical-Hellenistic period. In order to highlight what has changed, I have devoted space to the background. The study also makes extensive use of the data of the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, and attempts to understand the distributional patterns in terms of the broader history of the territory known from texts and archaeological investigations. My goal has been to highlight the contingencies in the development, conception, and value of the landscape and its connectivity over a thousand year period.

Once I hear the fate of the manuscript, I will talk a bit more about the individual chapters. For now, here’s an annotated outline of the book as it has shaped up:

1. Introduction  = an intro to modern scholarship about the Isthmus as an “essential” and “timeless” landscape that constantly shaped the region’s history.  The book aims to replace the timeless view of the Isthmus as a connective landscape with an historically contingent view.

2. The Isthmos = the meaning of the concept isthmos in the classical to Hellenistic periods and its associations with connectivity.

3. The Concourse = the material development of the connective structures (settlements, harbors, roads, emporium) of the eastern landscape from the archaic to Hellenistic period, considering especially the picture from the Eastern Korinthia Survey data.

4. The Fetter and the Gate = how the connective Isthmus factored into the Roman destruction of Corinth in 146 BC and the historical interpretation of destruction and its aftermath

5. The Portage = explores the particular significance of the transfers of ships of war over the Isthmus during the interim period, in 102-101 BC (Marcus Antonius), and early colony, in 30 BC (Octavian)

6. The Bridge = picks up where Ch. 2 left off by outlining shifts in the meaning of the concept “isthmus” in the late Hellenistic -early Roman era, and explores the ways that the territory functioned (and did not function) as a bridge of the sea

7. The Territory = surveys the redevelopment of the eastern territory and its connective structure from the time of colonization to the early third century AD, considering data from the Eastern Korinthia Survey

8. The Canal = explores the particular contingencies that led the Emperor Nero to attempt to cut a canal through the Isthmus in 67 AD and its consequences on the landscape’s connectivity

9. The Crossroads = considers shifts in connectivity and settlement at the site of Isthmia between the second and fourth centuries

10. Conclusions

Corinthian Scholarship Monthly (November 2013)

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Your latest round of new Corinthian scholarship published or posted online in the last month – just in time for the holiday season. Feel free to reply to this post if you have something to add. If you are interested and qualified to review any of the following, contact me at corinthianmatters@gmail.com.

For comprehensive bibliography related to the Corinthia, see this page and visit the Corinthia Library at Zotero.

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Archaic-Hellenistic

Roman

Late Roman

New Testament

Diachronic

Other