Introduction

Corinth was a very ancient and important city. The site was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium, but it did not become a great power until the 8th century B.C. The peak of its power was in the 6th century. It was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. -- the same year in which they gave the same treatment to Carthage. Some extremist Greeks mobbed some Roman senators at Corinth. An army under Metellus came down from Macedonia, but was not able to take the city. Then another Roman general, Mummius, came with four legions, and captured the city. Rome decided to make an example of Corinth -- all who were not killed in the fighting were sold as slaves. The city was destroyed, was in ruins until about 44 B.C., when Julius Caesar reestablished it, tried to name it Laus Julii -- the praise of Julius -- but the old name came back. Augustus made it the capital of Achaia, the seat of Roman government for the area.

Polybius, the great Greek historian who was present in 146, told of seeing Roman soldiers using priceless paintings as dice-boards. There is also a report that Mummius contracted with some shipmasters to take the finest statues and paintings to Rome, and wrote in the contract: "If any of these were lost, destroyed, or damaged in transit, the carriers must replace them with others equally valuable."

Corinth came to surpass even Athens as a center of science and culture. It was the hub of dealings between Romans, Greeks, Jews, Syrians and Egyptians. In St. Paul's day it had a population of about one-half million. It was also a sports center, for the Isthmian games were held there every two years. (There were, in all, four great sets of games in Greece, counting the Olympics).

Corinth was noted too for its immorality, even compared to the rest of Greece. The verb corinthiazein "to act like a Corinthian" meant to be immoral. Kore Korinthe, literally, "Corinthian girl," meant a prostitute. The temple of Aphrodite on the high point of the city, the Acrocorinth, was said to have had 1000 hierodules, sacred prostitutes. Its position on the isthmus, astride east-west traffic, meant many sailors would be there, which did not help the moral tone.

Paul preached everywhere: "You are free from the law." We can imagine the trouble that started in Corinth. Actually, as we can see from Second Corinthians, St. Paul had more trouble with Corinth than with any other church. Paul founded the Church there early in 51 A.D., on his second missionary expedition. He stayed about 18 months there.

No one today denies this Epistle (and Second Corinthians too) is by Paul, especially in view of the letter Pope Clement I wrote to Corinth about 95 A.D. In #47 he said:"Read your letter from the Blessed Apostle Paul again."