If you’ve read much of this blog, you are probably familiar with my “Following Old Trails” section. I’ve blogged from several locations on trails all over America—from a cattle drive in Florida to the Lewis and Clark Trail across America’s west and many more.

Today, I am in Greece following some of the missionary travels of St. Paul the Apostle. Mostly over the next few days I’ll describe his Grecian sojourn, but we’ll also spend one day in Ephesus in Turkey and another in Crete.

Our journey today began in Athens (no Bryce not Athens, Georgia.) We drove by bus from Athens to the ancient city of Corinth, which is not in the same location as current-day Corinth. We traveled on the Lechaeum Road, an ancient highway paved with marble which was used for those traveling by land between Athens and Corinth. Today, it is a modern asphalt road with views of Greece’s seaside and mountains.

In Paul’s day, he probably made the trip by ship but this road was there. If he went by ship, they probably had to portage the four plus miles between the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea and the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. The canal was not there in his time even though the cutting of it first began in 7 B.C.

We stopped to see the 84-foot-wide Corinth Canal. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and “separates” the Peloponnese peninsula from the rest of the Greek mainland. Mariners portaged but later used this canal because ships sailing between these seas were forced to make a detour of two hundred miles, otherwise.

Whether Paul went to Corinth by sea or land, we know he passed through this area either by the road or by the Diolkos, a paved trackway built by the Romans for portaging ships.

Afterward, we drove straight to the ruins. This is the ancient city of Corinth where Paul came to preach the good news. Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC. The Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BC and built a new city in its place in 44 BC, so when Paul came, it was still a fairly new city.

Corinth is mentioned many times in the New Testament, largely in connection with Paul the Apostle’s mission there. He first visited the city in AD 49 or 50, and he lived here for eighteen months.

He came here when he did not do as well trying to preach to the Athenians, who were mostly intellectually motivated. Athens was an academic’s city of critical thinkers who spent much time criticizing but not doing much otherwise.

The wealthy and more important Corinth, though, was known for its pagan rituals, especially the temple of Aphrodite and its thousand temple prostitutes. The city was known for its vices, and isn’t it interesting that God chose it to become an important place for the spread of Christianity?

On another note, unluckily we arrived on May 1, a day set aside so all Greece’s workers can take a “strike day.” The park was closed, but we were able to get some great photos from viewing platforms.

The first is a temple that always survived, even the Roman conquest when they destroyed the city. Each of these columns were made of one large piece of marble, each weighting over 23 tons. They couldn’t tear them down. Also notice that they are Doric columns. We could see no Corinthian columns anywhere in the city.

In the next photo, this is the main Roman road coming into the city. By the way, Julius Caesar was the one who rebuilt the city after an earlier ruler destroyed it. Imagine, Paul walked down this road many times during the year and a half he first lived here.

Paul probably preached in several places here including this theater which seated 15,000. Tradition says he preached here.

In this next photo, the distance you can see a raised platform with white statues on it. This is the Bema where they held Paul’s trial. This large elevated rostrum is where the city’s officials addressed the public. He was on trial after teaching the word of God and baptizing believers, which angered the city’s Jewish leaders. Thus Paul turned to speaking to the Gentiles afterwards.

The Bible and tradition tells us that Paul visited Corinth twice more, and the church he started here would do much to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ across the world.