CORINTH. 413 CORINTHIANS. Athens, Patras, and Argos. It has a good har- bor. There are a custom-house and a gj'mna- sium. It has been prospering since the Corinth Ship Canal was opened in 1893. Aniouf; its ex- ports are oil. honey, silk, corn, and currants. It is the capital of the nomarehy of Corinth, and has a population of about 5000. CORINTH. A city and county-seat of Alcorn County, Miss., near the Tennessee border, 90 miles east-southeast of Memphis, Tenn., on the Mobile and Ohio and the Memphis and Charles- ton railroads (Map: Mississippi, J 1). Popula- tion, in 1890, 2111; in 1900, .3661. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Corinth, being at the junction of the Mobile and. Ohio Eailroad running north and south, and of the Memphis and Charleston running east and west, became a point of great strategic importance. It ■was fortified by the Confederates, and imme- diately after the battle of Shiloh (April 6, 7, 1862) General Beauregard with 50,000 men re- treated thither, followed by General Ilallcck at the head of a force of over 100,000 men. Halleck advanced with great caution, being more than a month in covering a distance of only 23 miles, and when he approached Corinth, Beauregard, after slight skirmishes, quietly evacuatc<l the place during the night of May 29th, Halleck taking possession the following day. On October 3. 4, 1862. a force of 22,000 Confederates under Generals Van Dom and Price attempted to re- capture the place, then defended by General Rosecrans with 20.000 troops. But the assail- ants, notwithstanding the heroic valor displayed, v;ere repulsed with great loss. The Union loss was 315 killed, 1812 wounded, and 232 missing, while that of the Confederates (estimated) was 592 killed, nearly 2000 wounded, and 2225 pris- oners. CORINTH, Gulf of, or Gulf of Lepanto. An arm of the Mediterranean extending from west to east through the centre of Greece, and dividing the Peloponnesus from the northern mainland. The outer portion extends from the promontory of Araxus (now Kalogria) in Achoea to the narrow strait ( P4 miles) between Rhion and Antirrhion (south and north shores), the inner from this point to the isthmus, a distance of about SO miles. The gulf has the appearance of an inland lake, and the scenery is remarkably attractive, since the shores show striking con- trasts of rocky promontories and fertile plains, while the background is everywhere marked by lofty mountains. The narrow neck of land which separates the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronie Gulf, and unites the Peloponnesus to the main- land, is called the Isthmus of Corinth (see Isth- mus). It is about 10 miles in length, and about four miles in width at its northern extremity, near Mount Gcraneion. In ancient times a wall was built across the isthmus to prevent invasion from the north. On the Saronie Gulf, at the point ■where this wall terminated and where the Isthmian games were celebrated, is situated the modern tovm of Isthmia. Excavations by the French School in 1883 brought to light remains of the ancient sanctunries and houses on a forti- fied hill: near by are scanty ruins of the old Stadium. The isthmus is pierced by a canal, com- pleted in 1893. See CoRiNTn Canal. CORINTH CANAIi. The construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth was begun by Nero, but the undertaking proved too vast and was abandoned. In 1881 a French company ob- tained a concession to construct siu'h a canal and in 1882 work was begun. In 1889 the work was transferred to a (ireek company, and was brought to completion bv >Iatsas. a Greek engineer, in 1893. The canal, uniting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronie Gulf, shortens the journey from the Adriatic to the Piranis by 202 miles. It is 4 miles long, and has a depth of 26 feet, thus ad- mitting the largest vessels. The dilKcultics of navigation, however, in the C'orinthian and Sa- ronie gulfs, have led large steamships to prefer the longer ^■oyage aroun<l Cape Malea. At its western extremity a new town, Poseidonia, has sprung up, and at its eastern end is the modern town of Isthmia. CORINTHIAN ORDER. The latest devel- oped and most elaborate of the three orders of Greek architecture. See Column. CORINTHIANS, Epi.stles to the (trans- lation of Gk. Trpos KopLi>$lovs, sc. iTntrTcXal. i^ros Koriiitliioiif:, to the ('(jrinthians, sc. tpisltAai, epistles). Two writings in the New Testament addressed by Paul to the Church at Corinth, which he had founded in a.d. 50. The former of these letters was written during Paul's stay in Ephesus, from a.d. 52 to 55, probably shortly before Pentecost of 55 (cf. .xvi. 8,9: "But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a great door and eflectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries"). It was occasioned pri- marily bj' reports brouglit to the Apostle through certain members of the Corinthian Church to the efl'eet that there were grave disorders in the Church, consisting chiefly in party factions, gathering around the names of the Apostles and their workers and Christ (chaps, i.-iv. ), and also in grossly immoral practices (chap, v.) and in a contentious spirit which resulted in bringing one another before the courts of law (chap. vi.T. all of which things the Apostle sternly rebuked. The further occasion of the Epistle was a letter addressed by the Corinthian Church to the Apostle, apparently in reply to a previous letter sent by him to them, in which he had prohibited their comiianionship with persons of bad char- acter and life, but evidently in such terms as to lead to the misunderstanding that he had in mind all persons of this character in tneir com- munity. The practical impossibility of com- plying with this command they had doubtless laid liefore the Apostle in their letter, in view of w'hich protest he exjilains that his intention was to ijrohibit Christian companionship -svith such persons in the membership of the Church (v. 9-11: "I wrote unto you in my Epistle to have no company with fornicators; not at all meaning with the fornicators of this world . . . but ... if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one no, not to eat"). In this same letter the Corinthians apparently laid before the Apostle definite questions regard- ing certain troubles in their church life, to which the Apostle replies in order (chaps, vii.-xvi.). These questions regarded marriage (chap, vii), the eating of meat offered in sacrifice to idols (chap. viii.). the proprieties of public worship (chaps, xi.-xiv.) — chiefly as to the use of the charismata or spiritual gifts (chaps, xii.-xiv.).
