Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present ConditionBucke, Charles
History
Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present Condition
Bucke, Charles
Cities and towns, Ancient
Corinth had temples dedicated to the Egyptian Isis, to Serapis, and
Serapis of Canopus. Fortune, also, had a temple, and her statue was made
of Persian work; and near this temple was another, dedicated to the
mother of all the gods.
Besides the citadel, built upon the mountain, the works of art, which
chiefly displayed the opulence and taste of the people, were the
grottoes, raised over the fountain of Pyrene, sacred to the Muses, and
constructed of white marble. There were, also, a theatre and stadium,
built of the same materials, and decorated in the most magnificent
manner; also a temple of Neptune, containing the chariots of the god,
and of Amphitrite, drawn by horses covered over with gold, and adorned
with ivory hoofs.
There were a multitude of statues, also; amongst which were those of
Bacchus, and Diana of Ephesus. These were of wood; others were of
bronze; amongst which were those of Apollo Clarius; a Venus by
Hermogenes of Cythera; two Mercuries; three statues of Jupiter; and a
Minerva. This last was mounted on a pedestal, the basso-relievos of
which represented the Nine Muses.
Such, indeed, were its wealth, magnificence, and excellent situation,
that it was thought by the Romans equally worthy of empire with Carthage
and Capua; and this induces me to say a few words in regard to its war
with the Romans.
Metellus[198] having received advice in Macedonia of the troubles in
Peloponnesus, departed thither with Romans of distinction, who arrived
in Corinth at the time the council was assembled there. They spoke in it
with abundance of moderation, exhorting the Achaians not to draw upon
themselves, by imprudent levity and weakness, the resentment of the
Romans. They were treated with contempt, and ignominiously turned out of
the assembly. An innumerable crowd of workmen and artificers rose about
them, and insulted them. All the cities of Achaia were at the time in a
kind of delirium; but Corinth was far more frantic than the rest, and
abandoned themselves to a kind of madness. They had been persuaded that
Rome intended to enslave them all, and absolutely to destroy the Achaian
league.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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