Joyce's Photos of Corinth
Corinth was a large and somewhat wild city in ancient times. So much so, that the expression "playing the Corinthian" was an expression that suggested that one was engaging in immoral behavior (it also became the name of an ancient play). Venus was worshiped here.
Yet, God had people there. The Apostle Paul not only preached in Corinth for about six months (Acts 18:8-11), he also wrote two letters to the brethren there (1st and 2nd Corinthians). He began his first epistle to them as follows:
Paul also had to deal with various problems in Corinth. Later, around the time of the Apostle John's exile to Patmos or perhaps right after his death in Ephesus, a non-canonical letter was written by church leaders in Rome to the brethren in Corinth to attempt to encourage them to resolve a schism that occurred in Corinth. Hence, there this church did seem to be troubled more than most then.
Geographically, Corinth is an isthmus--a narrow strip of land between two bodies of water. In ancient times, ship captains found that is was faster to have their boats dragged across the land in Corinth than to sail around the peninsula to the south. To encourage this activity, the Corinthians had a street with a lot of logs for the ships to be dragged across. This led to many sailors visiting Corinth, and led to to fame for behaviors that sailors have since been known for.
Joyce and I visited Corinth in 1990 as part of a Feast of Tabernacles' trip. The 2006 photos are actually taken of slide photos we took back then.
The following links are to photographs taken and/or directed by Joyce Thiel. All materials are copyrighted and all photographs are copyrighted by Joyce Thiel (c) 2006, All Rights Reserved:
The Acrocorinthus - This is a massive rock structure next to Corinth. Its top once contained a whole town. Now it has ruins of a temple and other ancient buildings.
Ancient Housing - This is a picture of the remains of ancient housing in Corinth. The dwellings are quite close together, and also quite small by modern Western standards.
Ancient Corinth - These are photos of the ruins of ancient Corinth, including what appears to be the Temple of Venus.
Baby Michael in Corinth - Our son Michael turned four about the time of this trip. Here are two photos of him and ancient Corinth. The one to the left by the remains of an ancient temple (Venus) and the one to the right in the remains of ancient housing.
The Isthmus of Corinth - These photos show the current canal that passes through the area that once was the isthmus of Corinth. This canal is so narrow that it seemed like the cruise ship we were on would hit on both sides of it (it did not)--it is that narrow.
COGwriter B. Thiel (c) 2006 www.cogwriter.com
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