Corinth Channel – ancient plans for great construction

Corinth Channel, which today connects the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea, was a construction dream in ancient times. The Corinth Channel is strategically and economically important because it avoids swimming all of the Peloponnese. Moreover, in ancient times, swimming in the Peloponnese was difficult and dangerous due to difficult weather conditions and strong sea currents. According to ancient sources, the plans to build the channel were tried to realize the Romans, who reportedly during the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68 CE), attempted to dig it in 67 CE.

Cassius Dio reports that Nero reportedly personally stuck the first shovel into the ground, initiating the construction. Thousands of slaves were mobilized for work, but the project was quickly abandoned after the death of the emperor. Earlier, similar plans had already had, among others Juliusz Caesar and Caligula, and even earlier, the tyrant Periander from Corinth (VII century BCE), who, however, resigned, probably under the influence of fortune-tellers, who warned that the violation of the natural border of Peloponnese could bring divine anger.

Corinth Channel was completed only in the nineteenth century and is currently 6.4 km long.