Corinth

The city of Corinth is known to anyone who has read through the New Testament. Paul wrote two lengthy letters to the church that resided there and spent about 18 months in the city. It  was a major city within Achaia (Greece), located south of the Isthmus. The games at Corinth were a rival to those of Olympia in northern Greece, the remains of these sports may still be found. Also at Corinth was the temple of Apollo and on the AcroCorinth was the famous temple to Aphrodite (Venus), with its cadre of vestal virgins that serviced the sailors that came through and the men in nearby cities for “worship” of the goddess. The immorality of the city gave rise to some of Paul’s teaching about purity in marriage and teaching against sexual immorality.

The major temple at Corinth was probably that to Apollo, god of wisdom, prophecy, and revelation. Near to Corinth, in the mountains, resided the famous site of Delphi, where the prophetess of Apollo (Oracle of Delphi), “told the future” to people at large, and even to generals and kings.

City of Corinth 
Corinth was an important city in ancient Greece.  Geographically it was an ideal hub for facilitating commerce and exchange between Italy and Asia.  The city served as the overlord of two harbors as it sat on the narrow isthmus that joins northern and southern Greece.  This strip of land, approximately five miles wide, was flanked by the Saronic Gulf to the east and the Gulf of Corinth to the west.  Maritimers who sought to avoid the potentially dangerous journey around the Cape of Malea would have their cargoes unloaded and transported across land and then reloaded to other ships, or, provided that the ship's size was accommodating, the entire ship was dragged across the isthmus.  The Acrocorinth, a mountain to the south of the city, made an excellent lookout for controlling the overland commercial traffic. 
Corinth was ransacked by the Roman general Lucius Mummius in revenge for an anti-Roman uprising in 146 B.C.  Mummius eradicated the male population and sold the females into slavery.  Though the attack was devastating, the strategic location of Corinth necessitated its revival.  After one hundred years of dormancy, the city was rebuilt in 46 B.C. under the orchestration of Julius Caesar.  The location of Corinth gave the already mighty Romans the added advantage of control over east-west commerce as well as the Isthmian Games (9:24-27), which were outranked in magnitude only by the celebrated Olympic Games.  Although the Roman culture had been thoroughly Hellenized, the politics were unquestionably Roman.  The official language was Latin; however, it is likely that the language of the common people was Greek.  According to Strabo, Corinth  was a convenient way for Rome to rid itself of persons whose status was only a step above a slave.  For the freed slave, Corinth meant an opportunity to improve his socioeconomic standing.  The overland shipping of goods made Corinth an international center of mercantile.  Along with the flow of merchandise, Corinth received an influx of travelers from both east and west creating ethnic diversity.  These factors contributed to a population that burgeoned to 650,000 at Corinth's peak.  They also produced a city with a strategic location for spreading the gospel around the world. 
Corinth's commercial acclaim was rivaled only by its decadence.  The cosmopolitan center flourished in every type of ignoble deed imaginable, and some unimaginable.  So pungent was the immorality of Corinth that Aristophanes (ca. 450-385 B.C.) coined the verb korinthiazoamai (to act like a Corinthian) as a synonym for committing sexual immorality.  The Corinthians drew attention to their lascivious lifestyle through the worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.  The Temple of Aphrodite was situated high upon the Acrocorinth and employed one thousand priestess-prostitutes.  Greek plays of the day often depicted Corinthians as drunkards and reprobates.  Corinth stood as a monument erected to depravity. 
Corinth was crucial for the propagation of the gospel.  Its strategic location made it a doorway to the rest of the world.  Its corrupt nature made it a center of need for salvation and a unique opportunity to display to the world the transforming power of Jesus Christ the Savior.

In 1988, archaeologists from the American School of Classical Studies working in Corinth found a stone door lintel with the (damaged) inscription translated: “[Syna]gogue of the Hebr[ews].”¹ Although the synagogue itself has not been found and the lintel has been dated from the second through fifth centuries, the inscription does show that there was a synagogue in Corinth, confirming the account in Acts of Paul reasoning with the Jews there.