Apollo and the Archaic temple at Corinth

Hesperia, Summer, 2004 by Nancy Bookidis, Ronald S. Stroud

ABSTRACT

After a detailed examination of the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, the authors argue that the prominent Archaic Doric temple at Corinth was dedicated to Apollo. It is this temple with its bronze statue that Pausanias (2.3.6) saw on his right as he left the area of the forum, taking the road to Sikyon. In further support of this identification, the authors present a previously unpublished Archaic terracotta pinax, possibly inscribed with a dedication to Apollo. The plaque was found during excavations at Corinth in 1902 and is now, apparently, lost.

**********

The Archaic Doric temple that stands on the hill above the Roman forum at Corinth is the single most imposing monument to that city's early greatness. (1) Visible since the middle of the sixth century B.C. when it was built, the temple has served as a beacon and focus for early travelers, the first excavators of Corinth, and visitors to the site. Nevertheless, the identification of this major monument has remained a matter of debate. (2)

In 1886, the first excavator, Wilhelm Dorpfeld, stated that the temple's dedication was unknown, although some had attributed it to Athena Chalinitis. (3) In the earliest excavation reports of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, it appears as the "Old Temple." (4) With the discovery of the theater in 1897 and the Fountain of Peirene in 1898, however, the excavated site of Corinth could be related to the description of Pausanias, and by 1898 Rufus B. Richardson had identified the Old Temple as the Temple of Apollo. (5) It was published as such by Richard Stillwell (6) and, in 1905, Benjamin Powell asserted that "subsequent excavations have made this [identification] practically certain and from the evidence given by Dr. Richardson we may rest assured that this was truly the Temple of Apollo." (7) This statement, however, has not found universal assent. (8) A recent rediscovery of an inscribed clay plaque from the 1902 excavations takes on greater significance as possible additional evidence for the identification of the temple.

Before presenting this important new find, we first review the literary, epigraphic, architectural, and archaeological evidence for the identity of the Archaic temple, which, as far as we know, has never been thoroughly examined in one place. (9)

LITERARY EVIDENCE

We begin with the particular passage in Pausanias that relates to this issue, 2.3.6-2.4.5. Here, and elsewhere in his description of Corinth, the periegetes (10) uses the word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] for the large, open, paved area to the south of Temple Hill, which we will call the "forum" of the Roman city of Corinth.

   [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.]

   Upon leaving the agora by another road, the one toward Sikyon,
   it is possible to see on the right of the road a temple and a bronze
   statue of Apollo and a little further on a fountain named for
   Glauke. For it was into this fountain that she threw herself, as
   they say, believing that its water would cure Medea's poisons.
   Beyond this fountain has also been constructed what is known as
   the Odeion. Beside it is a memorial to the sons of Medea.... [2.3.7]
   In response to the god's oracle, they (the Corinthians) established
   annual sacrifices to them and a monument of Terror was erected.
   This in fact still survives to our day, an image of a woman of
   dreadful appearance.... [2.4.1] Not far from the monument is the
   Sanctuary of Athena Chalinitis.... [2.4.5] The Sanctuary of Athena
   Chalinitis is near their theater.

This passage follows Pausanias's description of the monuments in the forum (2.2.6-3.1) and those along the road leading to the harbor of Lechaion (2.3.2-5). In 2.3.6, he returns to the west end of the forum and leaves on a road leading to Sikyon. Here he finds a temple and bronze statue of Apollo on the right side of the road. A little beyond this is the Fountain of Glauke, which has probably survived as the prominent rock-cut structure at A in Figure 1. The Odeion (Fig. 1:B), which is firmly identified, lies beyond Glauke, still on the road toward Sikyon. Another conspicuous structure, the theater (Fig. 1:C), indicates that all the monuments described in this passage by Pausanias must have been located between it and the gate by which he leaves the northwest corner of the forum. Convincing identifications for the memorial to Medea's children, the statue of Terror, and the Sanctuary of Athena Chalinitis have yet to be established, although many theories have been proposed. (11) We return to this passage below.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Further evidence for an image of Apollo in Roman Corinth is provided by Pausanias in 2.2.8, where he mentions a statue of Klarian Apollo in the forum near a fountain of Poseidon. A possible representation of this statue exists on a coin of Septimius Severus from Corinth. (12) The prototype of the god seated, semidraped, on a throne with his lyre next to him apparently goes back to the first half of the second century B.C. (13) Flashar's association of a corresponding figure on Augustan monuments celebrating the victory at Actium might give some support for an Augustan date for the statue at Corinth. In his suggestion that this statue was housed in Temple G (Fig. 1:D), Charles K. Williams II definitely set it in the Roman period. (14) Scranton attempted to place the statue of Apollo Klarios in Temple K (Fig. 1:E), which he then identified as the Temple of Apollo from Pausanias 2.3.6 (see below, p. 414). (15) A connection between Corinth and the Oracle of Apollo at Klaros is attested in an inscription from Klaros that records a delegation of 10 Corinthian hymnodoi sent to Klaros in the reign of Hadrian. (16) It is important to distinguish the small Roman temple in Pausanias's agora that housed the statue of Apollo Klarios from the Temple of Apollo in 2.3.6 that stood outside the agora on the right side of the road leading toward Sikyon.