Nero's attempted Ancient Corinth: archaeology of an unfinished dig

September 12, 2026GreeceGeneralShare

▶

Key facts

• Julius Caesar and Caligula reportedly considered cutting a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, which is 6 km wide at its narrowest point and rises to a ridge nearly 100 m high.
• The Diolkos, a grooved track across the isthmus, allowed ships and cargo to be hauled between seas by teams of oxen; Marcus Antonius (grandfather of the triumvir) and Octavian (before Actium) moved fleets this way.
• Ancient engineers believed the sea was higher on the western side of the isthmus, which deterred canal proposals for fear of flooding the Aegean.
• Nero inaugurated the canal project personally, filling the first basket of earth with a golden shovel.
• 6,000 Jewish prisoners of war carried out the actual digging under the direction of the emperor's engineers.
• 32 shafts up to 40 m deep were cut to inspect the nature of the rock along the planned canal route.
• On the eastern side, workmen cut 1,300 m inland from the coast, reaching depths of 30 m in places.
• On the western side, the cut reached 2 km inland, and a third excavation was begun through the central ridge.
• Nero's death and the ensuing civil war halted the project, which was never resumed and became a byword for hubris.
• Herod the Great considered completing the canal but no further work was done until the 19th century; the modern canal took 12 years to complete and obliterated virtually all traces of the ancient dig.

← All stories

AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.