Ancient Corinth was one of the great cities of the classical world — a wealthy, powerful city-state of the Peloponnese that commanded the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, the land bridge between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, and controlled trade between two seas. Rising to prominence in the Archaic period, it was famed for its craftsmen, its pottery and its riches. Its most enduring monument, the Temple of Apollo, was raised in the mid-6th century BC and stands as one of the earliest Doric temples in mainland Greece; seven of its massive monolithic limestone columns still rise above the ruins today, about 80 kilometres west of Athens.
The city's history turns on two Roman moments. In 146 BC the Roman general Lucius Mummius sacked Greek Corinth and left it in ruins; a century later, in 44 BC, Julius Caesar refounded it as a Roman colony, and it grew rich again as the capital of the Roman province of Achaea. Most of what you walk through today is that Roman city: the great forum, the marble-paved Lechaion Road leading down toward the port, the monumental Peirene Fountain fed by its natural spring, and the Bema, the raised speaker's platform where, according to the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Paul was brought before the proconsul Gallio during his stay in Corinth. The Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth stands on the site itself and is included in your ticket, gathering the finds from more than a century of excavation.
The site sits in the village of Ancient Corinth, about seven kilometres southwest of the modern town of Corinth and roughly 80 kilometres from Athens, an easy day-trip that often takes in the Corinth Canal on the way. Above the ruins looms Acrocorinth, the dramatic fortified citadel on its own high rock — a separate hilltop site, not part of this ticket. The ground is open and largely unshaded, so early-morning or late-afternoon hourly slots are far kinder than the middle of the day. Because entry is timed by the hour, we handle the ticketing in your own language and reserve the slot you want, so you can give your energy to the ruins instead of the queue.