=At Athens.= Accompanied by the Christians of Berœa, Paul next went southward along the Ægean to the home of that civilization which had surrounded him in his boyhood days at Tarsus and profoundly influenced the fields in which he had done his work. Landing at the port of Piræus, he proceeded along the new road to Athens, beside which stood the altars to the unknown gods. On entering the city he naturally went to the Agora, on the south of which Mars Hill^{(136)} rose abruptly. East of this was the Acropolis, crowned by that most peerless product of Greek art, the Parthenon. Athens was still at the height of its artistic splendor, but it had already ceased to be the political and intellectual capital of the Greek world. Superficial philosophy and sophistry had taken the place of real intellectual leadership. Athens, being aside from the world's commerce, had little attraction for the Jewish colonists. The city, therefore, lacked the religious background which Paul had found helpful in all his previous work. The critical, speculative atmosphere of the city was uncongenial. Paul was accustomed to addressing himself to the vital, crying needs of humanity. He made a strong effort to adapt himself to the new conditions, not without some success, but there is no record of a church at Athens, and he soon left to find a more promising field. =Importance of Corinth.= Corinth, to which Paul next went, marks an important epoch in his ministry. The city was called by the ancients the "Bridge of the Sea."^{(137)} It lay on the narrow neck of land which connected the Corinthian with the Saronic Gulf. It was on one of the three great highways from the east to the west, and here all cargoes had to be trans-shipped. It was also the bridge that connected the Peloponnesus with northern Greece. By nature, therefore, it was destined to become a great and influential city. It was built on a broad terrace at the end of a gently sloping plain, with an almost impregnable acropolis rising one thousand eight hundred feet above the sea-level. When Paul visited the city it was the metropolis and Roman capital of the province of Achaia. From the days of Julius Cæsar it had been a Roman colony. Because of its commercial importance its population was cosmopolitan, including many Jews. Like most cities thus situated, it was exceedingly prosperous and profligate.