There was a settlement on the coast near Lechaion which traded across the Corinthian Gulf; the site of Corinth itself was likely not heavily occupied again until around 900 BC, when it is believed that the Dorians settled there.

[6] The Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad lists the Corinthians amid the contingent fighting in the Trojan War under the leadership of Agamemnon.

In a Corinthian myth recounted to Pausanias in the 2nd century AD,[7] Briareus, one of the Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between Poseidon and Helios, respectively gods of the sea and the sun.

[11] The Bacchiadae (Ancient Greek: Βακχιάδαι Bakkhiadai) were a tightly-knit Doric clan and the ruling kinship group of archaic Corinth in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a period of expanding Corinthian cultural power.

The Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males, took power from the last king Telestes (from the House of Sisyphos) in Corinth.

[12] The Bacchiads dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by annually electing a prytanis (who held the kingly position[13] for his brief term),[14] probably a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials), and a polemarchos to head the army.

According to Herodotus, the Bacchiadae heard two prophecies from the Delphic oracle that the son of Eëtion would overthrow their dynasty, and they planned to kill the baby once he was born.

Aristotle reports that "Cypselus of Corinth had made a vow that if he became master of the city, he would offer to Zeus the entire property of the Corinthians.

He abandoned the venture due to the extreme technical difficulties that he met, but he created the Diolkos instead (a stone-built overland ramp).

[29] The Corinthians were also known for their wealth due to their strategic location on the isthmus, through which all land traffic had to pass en route to the Peloponnese, including messengers and traders.

Until the mid-6th century, Corinth was a major exporter of black-figure pottery to city-states around the Greek world, later losing their market to Athenian artisans.

[45][46] As an example of facing danger with knowledge, Aristotle used the example of the Argives who were forced to confront the Spartans in the battle at the Long Walls of Corinth in 392 BC.

[47] In 379 BC, Corinth, switching back to the Peloponnesian League, joined Sparta in an attempt to defeat Thebes and eventually take over Athens.

Demosthenes notes that they “chose along with you, who had been engaged in battle, to suffer whatever might betide, rather than without you to enjoy a safety that involved no danger.”[48] These conflicts further weakened the city-states of the Peloponnese and set the stage for the conquests of Philip II of Macedon.

In 243 BC, Aratus of Sicyon, using a surprise attack, captured the fortress of Acrocorinth and convinced the citizenship to join the Achaean League.

A series of Roman victories culminated in the Battle of Corinth, after which the army of Lucius Mummius besieged, captured, and burned the city.

Mummius killed all the men and sold the women and children into slavery; he was subsequently given the cognomen Achaicus as the conqueror of the Achaean League.

Corinth is mentioned many times in the New Testament, largely in connection with Paul the Apostle's mission there, testifying to the success of Caesar's refounding of the city.

Acts 18:6 suggests that Jewish refusal to accept his preaching here led Paul to resolve no longer to speak in the synagogues where he travelled: "From now on I will go to the Gentiles".

[62] During the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527–565), a large stone wall was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulfs, protecting the city and the Peloponnese peninsula from the barbarian invasions from the north.

[63] The wealth of the city attracted the attention of the Italo-Normans under Roger II of Sicily, who plundered it in 1147, carrying off many captives, most notably silk weavers.

Finally, in 1210 the fortress fell to the Crusaders, and Corinth became a full part of the Principality of Achaea, governed by the Villehardouins from their capital in Andravida in Elis.

In 1833, the site was considered among the candidates for the new capital city of the recently founded Kingdom of Greece, due to its historical significance and strategic position.

Acrocorinthis, the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock that was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century.

The city's archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the Thema of Hellas.

With its secure water supply, Acrocorinth's fortress was used as the last line of defense in southern Greece because it commanded the isthmus of Corinth, repelling foes from entry into the Peloponnesian peninsula.

Lechaeum was the principal port, connected to the city with a set of long walls of about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) length, and was the main trading station for Italy and Sicily, where there were many Corinthian colonies, while Cenchreae served the commerce with the Eastern Mediterranean.

Archaeologists such as Bert Hodge Hill, Carl Blegen, William Dinsmoor Sr., Oscar Broneer, and Rhys Carpenter worked to uncover much of the site before WWII.

[66] Since then, under the leadership of directors Henry Robinson (1959–1965), Charles K. Williams II (1965–1997) and Guy D. R. Sanders (1997–present), excavation has clarified the archaeological history of the city.

School excavations and projects affiliated to the ASCSA have also intensively explored the wider area of the Corinthia including the surrounding settlements of Korakou, Kenchreai and Isthmia.