Archaeological Site of Ancient Corinth visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Ancient Corinth 200 07, Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece

Hours

Open daily; summer (approx. Apr–Oct) ~08:00–20:00, winter shorter (~08:30–17:00); timed hourly entry, last entry −30 min. Confirm seasonally.

Temple of Apollo

Mid-6th century BC; one of the earliest Doric temples in mainland Greece; seven monolithic columns still standing

Roman refounding

Sacked by Rome 146 BC; refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar 44 BC

Key monuments

Temple of Apollo, Roman forum, Lechaion Road, Peirene Fountain, the Bema; on-site museum included

Getting there

About 80 km west of Athens; suburban rail to Corinth then bus or taxi ~7 km to the site

Ticket validity

Timed entry — reserved for the date and hourly slot you choose

The city that ruled the Isthmus

Ancient Corinth grew rich because of where it sat. The city commanded the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow neck of land joining the Peloponnese to the Greek mainland, and with it the flow of goods between the Corinthian Gulf to the west and the Saronic Gulf to the east. Rather than risk the long and dangerous sea voyage around the southern capes of the Peloponnese, traders moved their cargoes, and sometimes their ships, across the isthmus, and Corinth taxed and served that traffic. With two ports — Lechaion on the Corinthian Gulf and Kenchreai on the Saronic — the city became one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan in the Greek world, celebrated for its bronze-working, its pottery and its craftsmen.

Through the Archaic and Classical periods Corinth was a major power, founding colonies across the Mediterranean and playing a leading role in Greek affairs. Its prosperity ended abruptly in 146 BC, when the Roman general Lucius Mummius, crushing a Greek revolt, sacked the city and left it largely deserted. For a century the site lay in ruins, until Julius Caesar refounded Corinth as a Roman colony in 44 BC. The new city flourished as the capital of the Roman province of Achaea, filling with forums, temples, fountains and public buildings, and it was to this bustling Roman Corinth that the Apostle Paul came in the first century AD. What you walk through today is chiefly that Roman city, excavated over more than a century, with the great Greek Temple of Apollo still presiding over it all.

The Temple of Apollo

The defining image of Ancient Corinth is the Temple of Apollo, whose seven surviving columns stand on a low rise above the forum, silhouetted against the sky and the rock of Acrocorinth beyond. Built in the mid-6th century BC, it is one of the earliest Doric temples of mainland Greece and among the oldest stone temples in the country still standing to any height. Its columns are remarkable: each is a monolith, carved from a single block of the local limestone rather than assembled from stacked drums, then coated in fine stucco and painted, as was usual for Greek temples of the age. Stocky, closely spaced and powerfully proportioned, they show the massive, archaic character of early Doric architecture before the more slender forms of the classical era.

The temple survived the Roman destruction of 146 BC and was incorporated into the rebuilt Roman city, remaining a landmark at the city's heart. That it endured at all, when so much of Corinth was levelled and later quarried for building stone, makes it doubly precious, and it has become the emblem of the site. Standing beneath the columns, you look out over the Roman forum spread below and can trace the layout of the ancient city, while the great citadel of Acrocorinth rises behind. For many visitors this is the moment the whole site comes into focus: the oldest and greatest of Corinth's monuments, presiding over the Roman city that grew up around its feet.

The Roman forum

Below the Temple of Apollo stretches the great forum, the civic and commercial heart of Roman Corinth and the largest open space on the site. Laid out after Caesar's refounding of the city, the forum was a vast rectangular square ringed by shops, temples, administrative buildings and monuments, where the business and public life of the Roman colony was conducted. Rows of small shops lined its sides, and a long line of low bases and foundations still marks where colonnades, statues and civic structures once stood. Walking across it, you get a strong sense of the scale and ambition of the rebuilt city, and of how a Roman provincial capital was organised around its central square.

The forum brings together several of the site's most important monuments. At its centre stood the Bema, the raised speaker's and judgement platform; along its edges ran fountains, basilicas and temples; and from its northern side the marble Lechaion Road led down toward the port. Interpretive signs help you read the plan, but the pleasure of the forum lies as much in imagining the crowds, the traders and the lawcourts that once filled it. Because the space is broad and largely unshaded, it is at its most atmospheric — and most comfortable — in the softer light of early morning or late afternoon, when the low sun rakes across the column stumps and paving and the Temple of Apollo glows above.

The Lechaion Road and the Peirene Fountain

One of the most evocative features of Ancient Corinth is the Lechaion Road, the grand paved avenue that ran north from the forum down toward the harbour of Lechaion on the Corinthian Gulf. Flanked in Roman times by colonnades, shops and public buildings, and paved with stone slabs still worn by ancient traffic, it was the ceremonial approach to the city centre, the route by which travellers and goods arriving by sea entered the heart of Corinth. Walking down it today, between the foundations of its arcades, is one of the best ways to feel the everyday life of the Roman city rather than just its grand monuments.

Where the Lechaion Road meets the forum stands the Peirene Fountain, the most famous of Corinth's many springs and one of its enduring symbols. Fed by a natural spring that still flows, Peirene supplied the city with water from the earliest times and was elaborated over the centuries into a monumental fountain house, its chambers and basins rebuilt in grand form under the Romans. In legend the spring was linked to the winged horse Pegasus, said to have been captured nearby, and Corinth's coins bore Pegasus as the city's emblem. The cool, shaded arches of the fountain, set into the rock at the edge of the forum, make a welcome contrast to the open ground around, and vividly illustrate how central a reliable water supply was to the life and wealth of the ancient city.

The Bema and the Apostle Paul

In the middle of the forum, raised on a platform of stone, stood the Bema, the elevated rostrum from which Roman officials addressed the people and delivered judgements. It is one of the most visited spots on the whole site, because of the role it plays in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul lived and preached in Corinth for around eighteen months in the first century AD, founding one of the most important of the early Christian communities and later writing to it the letters known as the Epistles to the Corinthians. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was brought before the Roman proconsul Gallio in Corinth and stood before him at the Bema to answer charges brought by his opponents; Gallio dismissed the case.

This episode gives Ancient Corinth a special significance for visitors interested in early Christianity, and the Bema became a place of Christian veneration in later centuries, with a church built over it in Byzantine times. For historians, the encounter with Gallio is also valuable because it can be dated with unusual precision from a surviving Roman inscription, helping to anchor the chronology of Paul's travels. Standing at the Bema, with the forum around you and the columns of Apollo above, you are at one of the very few places in the world where a specific event from the New Testament can be tied to a monument still visible on the ground — a powerful meeting of ancient history and the biblical story.

The Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth

The Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth stands within the archaeological site itself, and entry is included in your ticket — a genuine bonus, since it lets you move straight from the ruins to the objects found in them without a second admission. Built in the 1930s and expanded since, the museum gathers the finds from more than a century of excavation, much of it carried out by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, which has dug at Corinth since the late 19th century. Arranged around a pleasant central courtyard, its galleries trace the long life of the city from prehistoric and Greek times through its Roman heyday and beyond.

Inside you can see the fine Corinthian pottery for which the city was renowned, Roman sculpture and portrait heads, mosaics, inscriptions, coins bearing the winged horse Pegasus, and the small everyday objects that bring the ancient population to life. Displays also illuminate the Asklepieion, the healing sanctuary of Corinth, and the religious and civic life of the colony. Because the museum is indoors and partly shaded by its courtyard, it makes an ideal counterpoint to the open ruins, and a natural place to escape the midday sun. Our concierge recommendation is to walk the forum and the Temple of Apollo first while the light is soft and the ground cool, then finish in the museum, where the objects give faces, names and detail to the great city you have just explored.

Getting there and visiting

Ancient Corinth lies about 80 kilometres west of Athens, in the village of Ancient Corinth roughly seven kilometres southwest of the modern town of Corinth, which makes it one of the most popular day-trips from the capital. The most straightforward option without a car is the suburban railway, the Proastiakos, which runs from Athens out to Corinth station; from there a local bus or a short taxi covers the last few kilometres to the archaeological site. Intercity KTEL buses also serve Corinth. If you drive, the journey from Athens takes around an hour along the motorway, and most visitors stop at the Corinth Canal, whose dramatic deep cutting through the isthmus is a spectacle in itself, on the way to or from the ruins.

Ancient Corinth is an open-air archaeological site, and it repays a little preparation. The ground is a mix of gravel paths, ancient paving, steps and uneven surfaces, and there is limited natural shade across the forum, so sturdy closed shoes, a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water are strongly advised, especially in the Peloponnesian summer when the midday heat can be fierce. Entry is now by timed hourly slot, so arrive within the hour shown on your ticket, and allow about one and a half to two hours for the ruins and the on-site museum. If you have the time and energy, the citadel of Acrocorinth on the rock above rewards the climb with sweeping views and layers of fortification, though it is a separate site. As one of the classic sights of the Peloponnese, Ancient Corinth is busiest in the middle of the day; an early or late slot gives you the coolest air and the calmest walk among the monuments.

Read the full guide: How to Get to Ancient Corinth →

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