Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia: Home of the Isthmian Games

The Story of the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia

The Isthmus of Corinth is a narrow strip of land between two seas, the only land bridge between the Peloponnese and the rest of Greece. For the ancient Greeks, a place where the sea came so close on both sides naturally belonged to Poseidon, god of the sea and of earthquakes. His sanctuary at Isthmia, near the eastern shore of the Isthmus, became one of the most famous in Greece, thanks to the athletic festival held there in his honor.

The Isthmian Games were one of the four Panhellenic festivals, alongside those at Olympia, Delphi and Nemea. They were held every two years and drew athletes and spectators from all over the Greek world, including many visitors from nearby Corinth, which organized the Games. Victors received a simple crown, at different times made of pine or of wild celery, yet winning here brought great fame.

Myths explained the origins of the Games in different ways. One story said that they were founded in honor of the boy Melicertes, whose mother leapt into the sea with him while fleeing madness. His body was carried ashore at the Isthmus by a dolphin, and he was worshipped as the sea god Palaemon. Another tradition credited the Athenian hero Theseus with founding the Games after he cleared the road along the Isthmus of murderous bandits.

The first temple of Poseidon at Isthmia was built in the 7th century BC and is one of the earliest monumental temples known in Greece. It burned down in the first half of the 5th century BC, and a new Doric temple was built in its place. That temple too was damaged by fire in the 4th century BC and was rebuilt. Near it lay the stadium, and archaeologists found the remains of an unusual starting gate, with a system of cords that let all the runners start at the same moment.

Isthmia was also a stage for great political moments. In 196 BC, at the Isthmian Games, the Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus proclaimed the freedom of the Greek cities from Macedonian rule, and the crowd was said to have cheered so loudly that birds fell from the sky. When the Romans destroyed Corinth in 146 BC, the Games were moved to nearby Sicyon for a time, but they were later restored at Isthmia under Roman rule, when a shrine to Palaemon was also built.

In late antiquity the sanctuary fell into ruin, and many of its stones were reused in the Hexamilion, a long defensive wall built across the Isthmus in the early 5th century AD to protect the Peloponnese from invaders. Its remains still run near the site. Modern excavations, led by American archaeologists from the 1950s onward, uncovered the temple foundations, the starting gate, a theater and Roman baths.

Today the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia is a quiet site, close to the Corinth Canal, which since 1893 has cut through the Isthmus that the ancient Greeks crossed on foot. A small museum displays finds from the sanctuary, including objects from the nearby harbor of Kenchreai. Visit the ruins, then stop at the canal to watch ships pass between its steep walls, a modern answer to the old dream of joining the two seas.