Founded by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., the Roman colony of Corinth, Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis was layed out virtually on top of the former Greek city that had been destroyed by the Roman consul Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C. The site remained largely uninhabited for 102 years. According to literary sources, the Greek male population had been killed and the women and children had been sold into slavery.¹ The location of Corinth had been important during the Greek period, situated near the Isthmus, the land bridge between the Peloponnesos and mainland Greece, as well as having ports on the Saronic Gulf and the Corinthian Gulf.

In the new foundation of 44 B.C. the Romans utilized many of the existing Greek buildings in the design of their own city although the organization and city plan of the Roman colony was different than its Greek predecessor. Additionally, evidence exists for what is likely to be several phases of Roman agricultural land division (centuriation) of the territorium of the city. There is also epigraphical, numusmatic and now archaeological evidence for a refoundation of Roman Corinth as Colonia Iulia Flavia Augusta Corinthiensis under Vespasian in the early 70's A.D.

¹For a general discussion of the history of Corinth during this time period, see James Wiseman, 'Corinth and Rome I: 228 B.C. - A.D. 267', Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt II, 7.1, Berlin, 1979, pp. 438-548.