Dutch were the first
to establish themselves at Coringa. In 1759 the English took possession
of the town, and erected a factory 5 m. to the south of it.

CORINNA, surnamed "the Fly," a Greek poetess, born at Tanagra in
Boeotia, flourished about 500 B.C. She is chiefly known as the
instructress and rival of Pindar, over whom she gained the victory in
five poetical contests. According to Pausanias (ix. 22. 3), her success
was chiefly due to her beauty and her use of the local Boeotian dialect.
The extant fragments of her poems, dealing chiefly with mythological
subjects, such as the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, will be
found in Bergk's _Poetae Lyrici Graeci_.

Some considerable remains of two poems on a 2nd-century papyrus
(_Berliner Klassikertexte_, v., 1907) have also been attributed to
Corinna (W. H. D. Rouse's _Year's Work in Classical Studies_, 1907; J.
M. Edmonds, _New Frags. of ... and Corinna_, 1910).

CORINTH, a city of Greece, situated near the isthmus (see CORINTH,
ISTHMUS OF) which connects Peloponnesus and central Greece, and
separates the Saronic and the Corinthian gulfs on E. and W. The ancient
town stood 1-1/2 m. from the latter, in a plain extending westward to
Sicyon. The citadel, or Acrocorinthus, rising precipitously on the S. to
a height of 1886 ft. was separated by a ravine from Oneium, a range of
hills which runs E. to the isthmus entrance. Between this ridge and the
offshoots of Geraneia opposite a narrow depression allowed of easy
transit across the Isthmus neck. The territory of Corinth was mostly
rocky and unfertile; but its position at the head of two navigable gulfs
clearly marked it out as a commercial centre. Its natural advantages
were enhanced by the "Diolcus" or tram-road, by which ships could be
hauled across the Isthmus. It was connected in historic times with its
western port of Lechaeum by two continuous walls, with Cenchreae and
Schoenus on the east by chains of fortifications. The city walls
attained a circuit of 10 m.

I. _History._--In mythology, Corinth (originally named Ephyre) appears
as the home of Medea, Sisyphus and Bellerophon, and already has over-sea
connexions which illustrate its primitive commercial activity. Similarly
the early presence of Phoenician traders is attested by the survival of
Sidonian cults (Aphrodite Urania, Athena Phoenicice, Melicertes, i.e.
Melkarth). In the Homeric poems Corinth is a mere dependency of Mycenae;
nor