Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "KECHREES Ancient city KORINTHOS".
Probably to be identified with a site SW of Argos near the village
of Paleo Skaphidaki, where Frazer saw marble fragments and foundation walls. Pausanias
speaks of several polyandreia near Kenchreai, mass graves of the Argives fallen
in the battle against the Spartans at Hysiai. The socalled Pyramid of Kenchreai
at Helleniko near Cephalan has frequently been proposed as one of these tombs;
it was apparently converted in antiquity to a fort or guard post. About 8.6 x
14.7 m, the limestone walls are preserved in some places to their full height
of 3.4 m. The masonry is polygonal, arranged more or less in courses; above a
low vertical base, the outer surface is dressed to a plane surface in the shape
of a truncated pyramid. The interior was divided into rooms with an entrance passageway
at one side; the outer and inner doors were barred on the inside and there are
cuttings at the top of the wall for ceiling or roof beams.
Pausanias specifically describes another pyramid near the church of
Haghia Marina 1.5 km W of Ligourio on the ancient road from Argos to Epidauros.
There are only two courses remaining, also of limestone, but both show the slope
of the pyramid; the plan, about 12.5 x 14 m overall, is similar to that at Helleniko.
Pausanias says it was decorated with carved shields of Argive (round) shape. The
masonry of both tombs has been dated in the 4th c. B.C. and the unusual shape
explained by the traditional close connection between Egypt and the Argives from
the time of their legendary conqueror Danaos, king of Libya; that 3000 Argive
mercenaries were sent to Egypt in 349 B.C. is still more persuasive evidence.
M. H. Mc Allister, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Total results on 20/4/2001: 37 for Cenchreae, 23 for Kenchreai.
The eastern harbour of Corinth on the Saronic Gulf, important for its trade and commerce with the East.
Kenchreai, Kenchreia, Kenchreiai, Kerchnis, Cenchreis or Cenchris.
The port of the Saronic gulf, was distant from Corinth about 70 stadia, and was
the emporium of the trade with Asia. (Strab. viii. p. 380.) This port was not
simply an artificial one, like that of Lechaeum. It is a bay protected by two
promontories on the north and south, from which the Corinthians carried out moles,
as the existing remains prove, in order to render the harbour more secure. On
a Corinthian coin of Antoninus Pius (figured below) the port of Cenchreae is represented
as inclosed between two promontories, on each of which stands a temple, and between
them at the entrance of the harbour a statue of Poseidon, holding a trident in
one hand and a dolphin in the other. This agrees with the description of Pausanias,
from whom we learn that the brazen Poseidon stood upon a rock in the sea, that
to the right of the entrance was the temple of Aphrodite, and to the left, in
the direction of the warm springs, were the sanctuaries of Asclepius and of Isis.
(Paus. ii. 2. § 3, in which passage instead of rheumati, we ought either to adopt
Leake's emendation, hermati, or else chamati.)
Cenchreae is mentioned in the history of St. Paul (Act. Apost. xviii.
18; Ep. ad Rom. xvi. 1.) It is now deserted, but it retains its name in the form
Kekhries. The ancient town, stood upon the slopes of the hill above the town,
as the numerous remains of its foundations prove. Between this hill and the heights
to the right and the left there were two small plains, through one of which ran
the road leading to Schoenus, and through the other the road leading to Corinth.
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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