Destruction of Corinth
Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to visit many ancient Graeco-Roman sites including among others Pompeii (Italy), Ephesus (Turkey), Glanum (Provence) and Corinth (Greece). Each has a story to tell and I never grow tired of exploring these fascinating places that were the precursors of Western Civilisation.
As you wander through the ruins, you are overwhelmed with many emotions. For instance, at Ephesus, as you walk along the wide street leading from where the harbour once was into the city, you can't help but remember the grand processional progress of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra on their "stopover" as they returned to Egypt or the crowds who lined the street to welcome them.
As you wander through the ruins, you are overwhelmed with many emotions. For instance, at Ephesus, as you walk along the wide street leading from where the harbour once was into the city, you can't help but remember the grand processional progress of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra on their "stopover" as they returned to Egypt or the crowds who lined the street to welcome them.
Pompeii overwhelms you with its many wonders. But you can't escape the horrors of the tragic, cataclysmic event that wiped out the citizenry but preserved the town for prosperity. Prior to Vesuvius' eruption, life probably wasn't equal for all Pompeiians. Some were patricians, others plebeians while still others were slaves. Unequal in life yet they all shared a common horrific fate.
On my visits to Corinth, I am aware of the poignancy of this place and its destruction. What differentiates the fates of the two cities is that Pompeii was destroyed by a violent, unexpected act of Nature whereas Corinth's wanton destruction was an act of war perpetrated by the Romans, who wanted to impose their dominance in the eastern Mediterranean. Having successfully sought a war with the Greeks, Rome acted decisively in what I consider as an act of barbarism completely at odds with their view of being civilised.
Corinth shared the same fate as Carthage in the same year 146BC and was plundered by the Romans of all her treasures and then destroyed. Her citizens - those that survived - were then led away into slavery and sold in Rome's slave markets causing a glut of cheap slaves.
During my visit to Corinth, I thought of her young men being led away into captivity and Roman slavery. This memory stays with me still and some years ago, I wrote a story, "Glaucus of Korinthos" in which I try to convey how it would have affected a young nobleman from Corinth.
Picture sourced from the internet; the text is mine.
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What a magnificent piece of prose, Chris, that shows a gentleman of noble soul and of great culture, rightly bewitched by the poetry of ancient ruins and by the “ghosts” of ancient civilizations.
ReplyDeleteI too felt your same feelings in visiting those and other ruins …… and I always feel and live similar sentiments when e.g. I visit the Roman Forum or the ruins of ancient Ostia and I “see” in my mind those streets filled again with the ancient crowd …… the triumphs …… the passages of rich Senators and Matrons inside their litters …… the chaotic shouting of the bidding buyers in the nearby Slave Market of the Saepta etc.etc.
And the memory of thousands and thousands of young men and women, brutally dragged away in chains towards slavery ……. powerfully assaulted my mind in visiting not just Corinth, but also Jerusalem or Saguntum, or Istanbul or Budapest etc.etc (just to mention very few) .……. and many other places in the Mediterranean area where the ferocity of victorious men over defeated men has generated in the past hundreds of thousands or even millions slaves.
Your superb story "Glaucus of Korinthos" is a marvelous revival of such events and atmosphere.
Karel