nds and the shores of the Ambracian Gulf,
is constant since the opening of the Corinthian ship canal, in 1893. It
has not, however, attained great prosperity. It has broad streets and
low houses, but is architecturally unattractive, like most of the
creations of the time of King Otto. Its chief exports are seedless
grapes ("currants"), olive-oil, silk and cereals. Pop. (1905) about
4300.

Old Corinth passed through its various stages, Greek, Roman, Byzantine,
Turkish. After the War of Liberation it was again Greek, and, being a
considerable town, was suggested as the capital of the new kingdom of
Greece. The earthquake of 1858 levelled it to the ground with the
exception of about a dozen houses. A mere handful of the old inhabitants
remained on the site. But fertile fields and running water made it
attractive; and outsiders gradually came in. At present it is an untidy,
poverty-stricken village of about 1000 inhabitants, mostly of Albanian
blood. Like the ancient city, it spreads out over two terraces, one
about 100 ft. above the other. These were formed in different geological
ages by the gulf, which had in historical times receded to a distance of
1-1/4 m. from the city. At the nearest point to the city was laid out
the harbour, Lechaeum, a basin dug far into the shore and joined with
the city by long walls. At about the middle of the two terraces, 1-1/2
m. long, the edge of the upper one was worn back into a deep
indentation, probably by running water, possibly by quarrying. Here was
the heart of the ancient city. At the lower end of the indentation is
the modern public square, shaded by a gigantic and picturesque plane
tree, nourished by the surplus water of Pirene. As the visitor looks
from the square up the indentation he sees on a height to the right a
venerable temple ruin, and, directly in front, Acro-Corinth, rising over
1500 ft. above the village. Even from the village, the view over the
gulf, including Parnassus with its giant neighbours on the N., Cyllene
and its neighbours on the W., and Geraneia on the N.E., is very fine.
But from Acro-Corinth the view is still finer, and is perhaps
unsurpassed in Greece.

The excavations begun in 1896 by the American school of Classical
Studies at Athens, under the direction of Rufus B. Richardson, have
brought to light important monuments of the ancient city, both Greek and
Roman.

The first object was the locating of the agora, or public square, first
because Pausa