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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History, 2006.

Abstract

The Roman city of Corinth, founded at the crossroads of land and sea, on the narrow Isthmus connecting northern Greece with the Peloponnese and the Adriatic with the Aegean Sea, became one of the most famous commercial centers of the ancient Mediterranean. The prominent image and myth of Corinth centered around its place as a commercial and traveler’s cosmopolis, and its unity with its connective eastern landscape, the Isthmus. The physical landscape communicated the central myth and identity of the city, while stories and ancient literature reinforced a particular vision of the landscape. The eastern territory of Roman Corinth reflected and structured the image of the city. This is a study of the transformation of that city in its landscape in the period of Late Antiquity (3rd-7th centuries AD). In the course of Late Antiquity, the image of Corinth on the Isthmus was fragmented and redefined concomitant with the broader transformation of the Mediterranean world. The study analyzes two bodies of evidence that speak to this phenomenon. It discusses (Ch. 2-3) the wide array of literary testimony for the city and countryside and argues that during Late Antiquity, a strong tradition of conceptualizing and talking about Corinth as the traveler’s crossroad and commercial city on the Isthmus ceased to cohere in light of a general decline in classical literature and the developing narratives of a Christianized society—the myth of ancient Corinth died. On the other hand, the dissertation discusses (Ch. 4-6) the archaeological evidence for extra-urban structures of trade, settlement, and land use in the eastern territory during this period. The rural structures of the eastern Corinthia remained stable in Late Antiquity, contributing to the city’s commercial resources as long as broader Mediterranean networks of trade and commerce to which the city connected remained vital and flourishing. Only in the later sixth century is there strong evidence for the localization of the city and the decline in importance of the connective eastern territory. This dissertation, then, is a study of the continuity, discontinuity, and transformation of Corinth on the Isthmus during Late Antiquity.

Keywords

Corinth; Corinthia; Korinth; Korinthia; Isthmus; Isthmia; landscape archaeology; survey archaeology; archaeological survey; Christianization; Achaia; Roman Greece; Late Roman; Late Antique; Late Antiquity; image of the city; ancient city

Advisor

Timothy E. Gregory

Pages

437 (455 with introductory material)

Document number: osu1152884521
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1152884521

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