When the Athenians heard St. Paul speaking "of the resurrection of the dead," it seemed to them so impossible that a dead man should ever come back to life, that they quite laughed at his words: "some mocked; and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them"; apparently without having made any impression upon his hearers: but it was not so, for in spite of the unbelief and ridicule of many, we read, "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite," that is, a member of the court of Areopagus, "and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." "After these things, Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth"; another city of Achaia, in that part of Greece which used to be called the Peloponnesus, or rather on the isthmus which joined the Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece, and took its name from this town. The situation of Corinth, with sea on both sides, made it an important place for trade; because ships could easily come there from different countries, to sell the merchandise they brought with them, and buy such things as they wanted to take home. By means of their trade, the inhabitants of Corinth had become very rich; their city was flourishing; and many learned men resided in it, when St. Paul now came there about A.D. 51. A little before this time, the Roman Emperor Claudius, had for some reason or other, banished the Jews from Rome. We do not know the reason, but it seems likely that it was because there had been a famine in Rome, which the people foolishly thought was the fault of the Jews, whom they hated; and so to satisfy the people, and prevent any disturbance, Claudius commanded all Jews to leave the city. Among the Jews thus obliged to leave Rome, was a man named Aquila, born in Pontus, a country to the N.E. of Galatia, on the Black Sea: he was therefore one of the Jews called "Grecians," because, though his parents were Jews, he was not born in the land of Judæa. When he was obliged to leave Rome, Aquila and his wife Priscilla settled in Corinth, where they greatly helped St. Paul. Whether they had become believers before they left Rome or afterwards, we do not know; but they were Christians when St. Paul came to Corinth, and were probably known in some way to the Apostle, for he "came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers."