ABSTRACT
The sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth (Figure 8.1) was the major extramural shrine of the Corinthians, their most important religious foundation outside the city. Its central location beside one of the main roads linking the Peloponnesus with mainland Greece made the shrine a natural assembly place. It was one of four sanctuaries where Greeks from all parts of the Mediterranean came to compete in pan-Hellenic games. Oscar Broneer discovered the temple of Poseidon in 1952 and then conducted systematic excavations of the central plateau that contained the temple, altar, surrounding buildings, and a Roman hero shrine. He also cleared the theatre, two caves used for dining, and two stadia for the Isthmian Games. In the autumn of 1989 new excavations produced further information about the stages in the shrine’s development and their chronology.1 The following account of the sanctuary should be understood as a preliminary overview that combines the results of Broneer’s excavations with the new finds from the 1989 season.2 The first part is concerned with the monuments and related features of the central area from the period of earliest sacrificial activity until the Hellenistic period; the second section examines evidence for the ways in which the sanctuary was used during those centuries. In the third part the relationship between the sacrificial area and the Early Stadium is discussed, and at the end there is a short account of the hero, Melikertes-Palaimon, who was associated with the games.
