_c._ Corinth. In this place, previous to the time of the Dorian migration, the house of Sisyphus held the royal power; and even at that early period Corinth is extolled by Homer for its wealth. The Dorians drove out the original inhabitants; and Aletes, belonging to the race of Hercules, became king about 1089; the posterity of that prince held the sceptre down to the fifth generation. After the death of the last king, Telessus, 777, the family of the Bacchiadae, likewise a branch of the family of Hercules, took possession of the government and introduced an oligarchy, electing annually from among themselves a Prytane. At last, in 657, Cypselus got the upper hand; he was succeeded, 627, by his son Periander; both father and son were equally conspicuous for their avarice and cruelty. Periander (_d._ 587) was succeeded by his nephew Psammetichus, who reigned till 584, when the Corinthians asserted their freedom. With regard to the internal organization of the republic, little more is known than that there were at Corinth assemblies of the commons and a senate, ([Greek: gerousia]): the government appears to have been the aristocracy of a trading state; for even the Bacchiadae, at least some of them, were merchants.--The Corinthian commerce consisted chiefly in the exchange of Asiatic and Italian goods, and therefore was mostly carried on by sea: for such a trade the city of Corinth offered many advantages, particularly if we consider the state of navigation in those times; but the sea trade of Corinth, however profitable to the citizens, and even to the state, in consequence of the customs, cannot be considered as very extensive.--The colonies of Corinth in the west were principally Corcyra, Epidamnus, Leucas, Syracuse; in the east Potidaea: these colonies would fain have asserted a sort of independence, but never succeeded for any length of time in so doing. From the possession of these colonies, and from the necessity of protecting the trader from pirates, Corinth grew to be a naval power; she invented triremes, and at the early date of 664 gave battle to the Corcyraeans at sea. On the other hand, her wars by land were generally waged with the assistance of foreign subsidiaries; and from the facility with which she was enabled to pay her mercenary troops, she was the more ready to interfere in the domestic wars of Greece.