Diolkos

The Isthmus with the Canal of Corinth close to where the diolkos ran.
Strategic position of the Isthmus of Corinth between two seas.

The Diolkos (Δίολκος, from the Greek dia διά, "across", and holkos ὁλκός, "portage machine"[1]) was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the long and dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese peninsula. The phrase "as fast as a Corinthian", penned by the comic playwright Aristophanes, indicates that the trackway was common knowledge and had acquired a reputation for swiftness.[2]

The main function of the Diolkos was the transfer of goods, although in times of war it also became a preferred means of speeding up naval campaigns. The 6-to-8.5-kilometre-long (3+34 to 5+14 mi) roadway was a rudimentary form of railway,[3] and operated from c. 600 BC until the middle of the first century AD.[4] The Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships, on a scale that remained unique in antiquity.[5]

  1. ^ Liddell & Scott
  2. ^ Hutchins, R. M: "Thesmophoriazusae", The Great Books of The Western World, N.Y: William Benton, pp. 647f.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lewis, M. J. T. (2001), 8 & 15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Verdelis 1957, p. 526; Cook 1979, p. 152; Drijvers 1992, p. 75; Raepsaet & Tolley 1993, p. 256; Lewis 2001, p. 11
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lewis, M. J. T. (2001), 15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).