Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs The nature and development of Roman Corinth to the end of the Antonine period Thesis How to cite: Walbank, Mary Elizabeth Hoskins (1987). The nature and development of Roman Corinth to the end of the Antonine period. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 1986 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000de1f Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ROMAN CORINTH TO THE END OF THE ANTONINE PERIOD Mary Elizabeth Hoskins Walbank, B.A., M.A. Thesis submitted to the Open University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy AvrPr'lor5 1\lJt'\'\bC(: HDK' 303 . :Datrt or 6ubMlsslon; ;(0'''' October R~C, Classics, Faculty of Arts ~ata of- Aw'drc\: 7J}'v\ Januatj 19<97 October 1986 COPYRIGHT DECLARATION This thesis is an unpublished typescript and copyright is held by the author. Photocopy; ng ; sperm; tted on ly wi th the v/ri tten consent of the author. No quotation from this thesis or information derived from it may be published without the written consent of the author. i ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is two-fold: first, to examine and re-assess the material remains of Roman Corinth in the light 'of modern scholarship; secondly, to use this evidence, in combination with the literary sources, and thus to define, more clearly than has been done hitherto, both the nature of the original foundation and the way in which it developed. The work depends primarily on material remains, since the literary sources are limited and often overworked. A vast amount of material has been made available from the excavations of the American School over the last sixty years; there are scattered reports of earlier work going back to the 1890s; and there is a substantial body of unpublished material. Aerial photographs, taken in the 1940s and 1960s, which have not been studied before, have made it possible to form a much better idea of the city as a whole and to reconstruct the basic road system. The end of the Antoni ne peri od provi des a conveni ent, if somewhat arbitrary, date at which to conclude the study in general, since most of the excavated areas and literary references date from before this time. My conclusion is that the evidence now available shows that Roman Corinth, far from being simply a continuation of Greek Corinth, as most schol ars have assumed, was founded as a Roman colony, in accordance with normal Roman practice, and that it retained its Roman identity throughout the period under discussion. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of institutions and individuals have helped me in the course of this study. First, I wish to express my gratitude to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, for permission to work on Corinthian material, and, in particular, to Dr. Charles K. Williams II, Director of Corinth Excavations, for his advice and generous hospitality at Corinth during two extended periods in 1983 and 1985. I am also most grateful to Professor Henry S. Robinson, former Director of the American School and of the Corinth Excavations, and to Dr. Nancy Bookidis, Secretary of the Excavations, for their help in many ways. Above all, Professor Homer A. Thompson has allowed me to draw upon his immense experience in many fields. For their welcome companionship at Corinth and for advice in specialist areas, I thank Barbara Johnson, Rebecca Robinson, Kathleen Slane, Michael Walbank and Orestes Zervos; and, for discussion in person or by letter, Michel Amandry and Antony Spawforth. I am much indebted to my supervisors, Professor Malcolm Colledge and Dr. Christopher Emlyn-Jones, for providing constant, unobtrusive support. I have enjoyed the faci li ti es provi ded by the Bri ti sh School and its Director, Dr. Hector Catling, and by the Canadian Mediterranean Institute in Athens, by the Institute of Classical Studies in London, and by the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the SSHRC of the Canada Council, who provided me with financial support through fellowships for three years. Finally, my thanks to Mrs. V. Lake who was responsible for typing the final version of the manuscript. iii ABBREVIA TIONS All works cited by the author's name appear in the bibliography, where the abbreviations used are given; other abbreviations are as below. The titles of works referred to only once or twice are given in full in the footnotes. ABSA Annual of the British School at Athens. AD 'ApxaloAoY1KOV ~EAttOV. AE )ApxaloAoY1Kn )E¢nuEPls. -AJA American Journal of Archaeology. AJP American Journal of Philology. ANRW H. Temporini and W. Haase (edd.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt. Arch. Rep. Archaeological Reports, Supplement to JHS. ASAtene l'Annuario della Scuola Archaeologica Italiana di Atene. Ath. Mitt. Mitteilungen des deutschen archaologischen Instituts, athenische Abteilung. -BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique. BMC British Museum Catalogues (Greek). BMCRE British Museum Catalogues (Imperial). -BSAF Bulletin de la Societe nationale des Antiquaires de France. CAH Cambridge Ancient History. CIl Corpus Inscriptionum latinarum. Corinth Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. II I, 1 H. N. Fowler and R. Stillwell, Introduction, Topography, Architecture, Cambridge, Mass., 1932. II I , 2 R. Stillwell, R. L. Scranton and S. E. Freeman, Architecture, Cambridge, Mass., 1941. II I , 3 R. l. Scranton, Monuments in the lower Agora and North of the Archaic Temple, Princeton, 1951. II I, 4 O. Broneer, The South Stoa and its Roman Successors, Princeton, 1954. II I, 5 S. S. Weinberg, The Southeast Building, the Twin Basilicas, The Mosaic House. II I, 6 B. H. Hill, The Springs: Peirene, Sacred Spring; Glauke, Princeton, 1965. iv Corinth II II R. Stillwell, The Theatre, Princeton, 1953. II III, 1 C. W. Blegen, R. Stillwell, O. Broneer and A. R. Bellinger, Acrocorinth, Excavations in 1926, Cambridge, Mass., 1930. II III, 2 R. Carpenter, A. Bon and A. W. Parsons, The Defenses of Acrocorinth and,the Lower Town, Cambridge, Mass., 1936. II V T. L. Shear, The Roman Villa, Cambridge, Mass., 1930. II VI K. M. Edwards, Coins, 1896-1929, Cambridge, Mass., 1933. II VI II, 1 B. D. Meritt, Greek Inscriptions, 1896-1927, Cambridge, Mass., 1931. II VIII, 2 A. B. West, Latin Inscriptions, 1896-1927, Cambridge, Mass., 1931- \I VIII, 3 J. H. Kent, The Inscriptions, 1926-1950, Princeton, 1966. \I IX, 1 F. P. Johnson, Sculpture 1896-1923, Cambridge, Mass., 1931. \I IX, 2 M. C. Sturgeon, Sculpture, The Reliefs from the Theater, Princeton, 1977. \I X O. Broneer, The Odeum, Cambridge, Mass., 1932. II XIV C. Roebuck, The Asklepieion and Lerna, Princeton, 1951. II XVI R. L. Scranton, Mediaeval Architecture, Princeton, 1957. \I XVII J. C. Biers, The Great Bath on the Lechaion Road, Princeton, 1985. CRAI Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. EMC/CV Echos du monde classique / Classical Views. Doxiades N. Faraklas and M. Sakellariou, Corinthia - Cleonaea, Athens, Report 1971. Ergon TO )/EPYov ins APXCUOAOY1KT1S cEnupda.s Ka.Ta TO 'bos. FD Ecole francaise d'Athenes, Fouilles de Delphes. ~ Gnomon Gnomon. Kritische Zeitschrift fur die gesamte klassische Altertumswissenschaft. GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. HSPh Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. HThR Harvard Theological Review. -IG Inscriptiones Graecae. 1st. Mitt. Istanbuler Mitteilungen. -ILS H.Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. JdI Jahrbuch des deutschen archaologischen Instituts. v JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies. JIAN Journal international d'archeologie numismatique. JRS Journal of Roman Studies. Kl i 0 Klio. Beitrage zur alten Geschichte. KP der kleine Pauly: Lexikon der Antike. MAAR Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. NCP F. W. Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner, Ancient Coins Illustrating Lost Masterpieces of Greek Art, ed., A. N. Oikonomides, Chicago, 1964. (Original publication, "A Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias", JHS, Vol. 6 [1885], pp. 50-101; Vol. 7 [1886], pp. 57-113; Vol. 8 [1887], pp. 6-63.) Num. Chron. Numismatic Chronicle. PBSR Papers of the British School at Rome. Prakt. I1paX't'I.'l<.a 'til~ lv ~A9T]val.~ ~Apxal.oA.oYl.xl1~ 'E't'al.pEta<;. R.E. Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. REL Revue des Etudes Latines. Rom. Mi tt. f4i tteil ungen des deutschen archaol og; schen Insti tuts , Romischen Abteilung. W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, 3rd edi ti on. TAPA Transactions of the American Philological Association. vi LIST OF FIGURES 1. Corinthia and Cleonaea: ekistic areas (from Doxiades Report). 2. Statistical data relating to population of the Corinthia. 3. The central area of Corinth to the edge of the cliff to the north. 4. Plan of Corinth showing the Greek city walls and main sites. 5. Burials of the Roman period in the vicinity of Corinth. 6. Corinth in the Late Roman period, showing the Late Roman wall. 7. Contour plan of the area round Temple Hill ~. 1,000 B.C. 8. The central area of Corinth in the late 2nd century. 9. The central area of Corinth ca. 150 B.C. 10. Unidentified bases in the forum. 11. Sketch plan of road system. 12. Groma (1) base in front of east schola of Bema. 13. South Stoa: Greek and Roman phases. 14. The central area of Corinth ca.