Image Details

Sonia Halliday

The Doric columns of a mid-sixth-century B.C. temple rise above the ruins of ancient Corinth, with the hilltop site of the city’s acropolis looming in the distance. After a week on the road, travelers heading from Athens to Olympia would have reached Corinth, where they would have stopped for a much-needed break. Corinth was known for its drinking establishments and its prostitutes, who turned tricks in the temple to Aphrodite, located on the crest of the hill. Travelers thus left Corinth refreshed, ready to take on the serpentine and picturesque road winding through the Arcadian mountains.