=11. Athens at the time= of the apostle’s visit was included in the Roman province of Achaia. It was not then in its palmiest days of prosperity, but it was nevertheless the centre of art and learning and a city of great voluptuousness and idolatry. It contained one large _Agora_, “the market” or place of assembling of its citizens, a large square or open place which not only contained but was surrounded by the finest sculptures and buildings perhaps at that time existing in the world. The apostle came here alone, 1 Thess. 3:1, and while waiting for his companions he met and preached to many in the Agora, until he attracted so much attention that he was invited to the great assembling-place on the north of the Agora called the Areopagus, where the most important court or council of the Areopagus was held. Solon gave the court censorial and political powers, but St. Paul was called here more because of the curious desire of the Athenians to hear about this new doctrine. At this place he delivered that masterly address recorded in Acts 17.[197] His labors at Athens did not meet with much success, although some were persuaded and believed, and one of the court itself, Dionysius by name, who afterwards became a bishop of a Christian community formed there. Paul soon left Athens for Corinth.[198] =12. Corinth= was a rival of Athens in luxury and magnificence, in commerce and in wealth, and was perhaps even in art second only to Athens. It was situated upon the isthmus of the Peloponnesus and noted for its Acropolis, built upon an elevation 1,886 feet above the city on the south. It was sacked and nearly destroyed by the Romans, B. C. 146, and nearly all the treasures of art were carried to Rome, but the city was restored under Julius Cæsar. Only a few ruins remain. The modern town is on the Gulf of Corinth, three miles north from the site of the old city, and contains about 2,600 inhabitants. It is 45 miles a little south of due west from Athens.[199] Here Paul remained for nearly two years, A. D. 52, 53, and preached with great success; and while here he wrote the Epistle to the Thessalonians[200] and planted other churches in Achaia, 2 Cor. 1:1. =13. Cenchreæ= was five and a half miles east-southeast of Corinth on the shore of the Gulf of Ægina. It was an important port at the time when the apostle visited it. At present it is called Kekriais[201] and is not inhabited; the only remains are of an ancient dry dock. From this place Paul set sail for Ephesus, 235 miles almost due east.