18:1

Corinth: One of the oldest and most prominent cities of ancient Greece, located about 5 km (3 mi) SW of the modern-day city. The importance and great wealth of Corinth resulted largely from its strategic location at the isthmus, or narrow neck of land, connecting central Greece with the southern peninsula, the Peloponnese. Not only did Corinth control the flow of goods between northern and southern Greece but it also controlled maritime traffic between E and W on the Mediterranean Sea, since traveling the sea/land route via the isthmus was safer than making the trip around Greece. Achaia, as the Romans called Greece apart from Macedonia, became a Roman senatorial province during the reign of Caesar Augustus, and Corinth was made its capital. (See study note on Ac 18:12.) A large number of Jews had settled in Corinth and had established a synagogue, drawing some Greek adherents. (Ac 18:4) The presence of Jews in ancient Corinth is attested to by first-century writer Philo of Alexandria and by an ancient Greek inscription on a marble lintel found near the gate toward the harbor of Lechaeum. The inscription reads “[Sy·na·]go·geʹ He·br[aiʹon],” meaning “Synagogue of the Hebrews.” Some suggest that the lintel is from the time of Paul, but most favor a later date.​—See App. B13.