Greek Panhellenic Agones in a Roman Colony: Corinth and the Return of the Isthmian Games

In 146 B.C. L. Mummius took away the administration of the Isthmian Games from Corinth and awarded it to nearby Sikyon. However, shortly after its establishment as a Roman colony, the city recovered its Panhellenic festival and hosted it in its urban center for almost a century. The paper discusses how the return of the Isthmian Games provides further evidence against the throughout "Roman nature" of Corinth in its early colonial years. The restoration of the agones prompted a series of cultural operations, such as the resumption of the original pine crown as a prize, with the aim of showing the continuity with Corinth's prestigious legacy and of providing further support to the colony's claim on the Isthmian Games' agonothesia. Moreover, the inclusion of the Caesarean Games shortly after the battle of Actium set the Panhellenic Games and their host city in the new political context. The paper also explores the impact of these competitions on the topography of early Roman Corinth, addressing the problem of their possible venues. It will be argued that the refurbishment of the archaion gymnasion and of the surrounding buildings could have happened as early as the Augustan period and could be linked to the return of the Isthmian Games.