http://www.lipanhousechurch.org
For an expanded introduction see 2nd Corinthians on this same site.
The ancient city of Corinth was located on the isthmus between Attica to the northeast and the Greek Peloponnesus to the south with access to two seas___the Aegean, about five miles to the east and the Ionin to the west. The eastern port was Cenchrea, located on the Saronic Gulf (Acts 18:18; Rom 16:1), its western harbor was at Lechaeum on the Corinthian Gulf. This proximity to the seas and its nearness to Athens, only four to five miles to the northeast gave Corinth a position of strategic commercial importance and military defense.
There is a canal connecting the two seas (see map above and pic below) that was started by Nero (66 A.D.) and was not finished until the late 1800s.
Corinth was called "the bridge of the sea" and the "gate of the Peloponnesus." It was a very wealthy city with a population of around 200,000 in addition to half a million slaves and its navy. During the iron age the city grew in size and in wealth. But about 800 B.C. it had acquired considerable importance as a military and commercial center. The Corinthians as other Greek states were finally put under the yoke of Phiilip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great. Later when those at Corinth tried to break the yoke of the Greeks, the Romans became involved and eventually Corinth was destroyed by Lucius Mummius the Roman counsel in 146 B.C. The city was re-established in 46 B.C. by Julius Caesar and called Colonia Laus Julia Corinthus. Caesar populated it with Roman war veterans and freedmen. In the reign of Augustus, (27 B.C.-A.D 14), and his successors, Corinth was built on the pattern of a Roman city, with all remaining buildings reclaimed and new ones added around the old market place (the agora), the place where the bema (the judgment tribunal platform) stood, where Paul appeared before Gallio (Acts 18:12). In this period, Corinth became the capital of the Roman province of Achaia (cf. Acts 18:1,2) which included all the Peloponnesus and most of the rest of Greece and Macedonia.
During the Roman period and in its position as a political center, Corinth again prospered. Corinthian brass and pottery were world famous.
The celebration of the Isthmian games at the temple of Poseidon made a considerable contribution the the life of Corinth. The temple was about seven miles east of Corinth and not far from the end of the isthmus. But with the games there came an emphasis on luxury and profligacy because the sanctuary of Poseidon was taken over by the worship of the Corinthian Aphrodite, (the counterpart of the Syrian Astarte, I am sure) whose temple on the Acrocorinth had more the 1000 hierodouloi (female prostitutes). Strabo says (8.6.20) that many people came to Corinth because of these priestesses and the city grew rich. Korinthiazomia "live like a Corinthian in the practice of sexual immorality" was an expression used by Aristophanes (Fragmenta 354) to describe a person with a loose lifestyle.
Paul probably came to this important, but immoral, city in the fall of A.D. 50, after having preached the gospel to the highly intellectual Athenians. That this is the time of Paul's stay is established by comparing the reference in Acts 18:12 of Gallio and the Roman proconsul (anthupatos) with that of a Gallio proconsul of Achaia mentioned on an inscription of the Emperor Claudius at Delphi dated between January and August, A.D. 52.
Since Gallio of the inscription is already mentioned as in office in the first half of A.D. 52, he must have begun his proncousulship July 1, A.D. 51, since that was the time a Roman proconsul took office.
Paul ministered a year and a half in Corinth (Acts 18:11) before being brought before Gallio (v.12). There is no mention of Gallio being in office when Paul first came to Corinth to work as a tent maker and preacher (Acts 18:1-5). But sometime later after opposition to the gospel had time to grow (vv. 6-10), Gallio is mentioned as having a case against Paul brought before him (vv. 12-17). So, the conclusion then must be that Paul arrived about the fall of A.D 50 and it was a period of months before the Proconsul took office in July 1, A.D. 51.
In the Corinthian church there were both Jews and Gentiles as inferred from Paul's reference to them in chapter one. This is also attested by the use of Latin names (although Jews could have certainly had Latin names) but nevertheless we have Gaius, Fortunatus, Crispus, Justus, and Achaicus (1st Cor. 1:14, 16:17). Aquila and Priscilla were Jews (Acts 18:1-4) and of Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue (v.8) and Sosthenes, another synagogue ruler (v.17) and if he is the same Sosthenes of 1:1, a member of the congregation.
Most commentaries I read allege that the congregations at Corinth were mostly Gentiles based on text as 12:2). I am not so sure that is the case, but perhaps it ought to be enough to simply say there were Jews and Gentiles.
Archaeology has uncovered the ruins of a Jewish Synagogue in Corinth (Acts 18:4-8). On the lintel block is inscribed "The Synagogue of the Hebrews," but at this time it is impossible to say this is the exact Synagogue of the Bible. It is my personal view that it is.
Located near the center of the agora is still the ancient bema (see link above and compare 2nd Cor. 5:10, "the judgment seat of Christ").