Editing Corinth Canal (section)

===Ancient attempts===
Several rulers of antiquity dreamed of digging a [[Cutting (transportation)|cutting]] through the isthmus. The first to propose such an undertaking was the [[tyrant]] [[Periander]] in the 7th century BC. The project was abandoned and Periander instead constructed a simpler and less costly overland [[portage]] road, named the ''[[Diolkos]]'' or stone carriageway, along which ships could be towed from one side of the isthmus to the other.<ref name="Verdelis, Nikolaos (1957), 526">Verdelis, Nikolaos: "Le diolkos de L'Isthme", ''{{Ill|Bulletin de correspondance hellénique|fr}}'', Vol. 81 (1957), pp. 526–529 (526)</ref><ref name="Cook, R. M. (1979), 152">Cook, R. M.: "Archaic Greek Trade: Three Conjectures 1. The Diolkos", ''[[Journal of Hellenic Studies]]'', Vol. 99 (1979), pp. 152–155 (152)</ref><ref name="Drijvers, J.W. (1992), 75">Drijvers, J.W.: "Strabo VIII 2,1 (C335): Porthmeia and the Diolkos", ''[[Mnemosyne (journal)|Mnemosyne]]'', Vol. 45 (1992), pp. 75–76 (75)</ref><ref name="Raepsaet, G. & Tolley, M. (1993), 256">Raepsaet, G. & Tolley, M.: "Le Diolkos de l’Isthme à Corinthe: son tracé, son fonctionnement", ''Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique'', Vol. 117 (1993), pp. 233–261 (256)</ref><ref name="Lewis, M. J. T. (2001), 11">Lewis, M. J. T., [http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf "Railways in the Greek and Roman world"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721083013/http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf |date=21 July 2011 }}, in Guy, A. / Rees, J. (eds), ''Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference'' (2001), pp. 8–19 (11)</ref> Periander's change of heart is attributed variously to the great expense of the project, a lack of labour or a fear that a canal would have robbed [[Corinth]] of its dominant role as an [[entrepôt]] for goods.<ref name="Werner, Walter, 1997, 114">Werner, Walter: "The largest ship trackway in ancient times: the Diolkos of the Isthmus of Corinth, Greece, and early attempts to build a canal", ''The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology'', Vol. 26, No. 2 (1997), pp. 98–119</ref> Remnants of the ''Diolkos'' still exist next to the modern canal.<ref name="Werner, Walter, 1997, 114" /><ref>Verdelis, Nikolaos: "Le diolkos de L'Isthme", ''Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique'' (1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963)</ref><ref>Raepsaet, G. & Tolley, M.: "Le Diolkos de l’Isthme à Corinthe: son tracé, son fonctionnement", ''Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique'', Vol. 117 (1993), pp. 233–261</ref>

The [[Diadoch]] [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius Poliorcetes]] (336–283 BC) planned to construct a canal as a means to improve his communication lines, but dropped the plan after his surveyors, miscalculating the levels of the adjacent seas, feared heavy floods.<ref name="Werner, Walter, 1997, 114" /><ref name=gerster>Gerster, Béla, "L'Isthme de Corinthe: tentatives de percement dans l'antiquité", ''Bulletin de correspondance hellénique'' (1884), Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 225–232 (in French)</ref>

The philosopher [[Apollonius of Tyana]] prophesied that anyone who proposed to dig a Corinthian canal would be met with illness. Three Roman rulers considered the idea but all suffered violent deaths; the historians [[Plutarch]] and [[Suetonius]] both wrote that the [[Roman dictator]] [[Julius Caesar]] considered digging a canal through the isthmus but was assassinated before he could begin the project.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plutarch • Life of Caesar|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html|access-date=2020-08-03|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref><ref>[[Suetonius]], "[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Suet.+Jul.+44 Lives of the Caesars: Julius Caesar]", 44.3</ref> [[Caligula]], the third [[Roman Emperor]], commissioned a study in 40&nbsp;AD from Egyptian experts who claimed incorrectly that the Corinthian Gulf was higher than the [[Saronic Gulf]]. As a result, they concluded, if a canal were dug the island of [[Aegina]] would be inundated. Caligula's interest in the idea got no further as he too was assassinated before making any progress.<ref>{{cite book|title=Peloponnese & Athens|author1=Facaros, Dana|author2=Theodorou, Linda|pages=155–156|publisher=New Holland Publishers|year=2008|isbn=978-1-86011-396-3}}</ref>

[[Image:Remains of Nero's Isthmus Canal in 1881.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Remains of [[Nero]]'s canal project in 1881]]
The emperor [[Nero]] was the first to attempt to construct the canal, personally breaking the ground with a pickaxe and removing the first basket-load of soil in 67&nbsp;AD,<ref name="Nero">{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Suet.+Nero+19|title=C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Nero, chapter 19|author=Suetonius|author-link=Suetonius|website=www.Perseus.Tufts.edu|access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref> but the project was abandoned when he died shortly afterwards. The Roman workforce, consisting of 6,000 [[First Jewish–Roman War|Judean prisoners of war]], started digging {{convert|40|to|50|m|ft|adj=mid|-wide}} trenches from both sides, while a third group at the ridge drilled deep shafts for probing the quality of the rock (which were reused in 1881 for the same purpose).<ref name="gerster" /> According to Suetonius, the canal was dug to a distance of four [[Stadion (unit of length)|stades]] – approximately {{convert|700|m|ft}} – or about a tenth of the total distance across the isthmus. A memorial of the attempt in the form of a relief of [[Hercules]] was left by Nero's workers and can still be seen in the canal cutting today.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pausanias' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers|last=Arafat|first=K. W.|page=151|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-521-60418-5}}</ref> Other than this, as the modern canal follows the same course as Nero's, no remains have survived.<ref name="Werner, Walter, 1997, 114" />

The Greek philosopher and Roman senator [[Herodes Atticus]] is known to have considered digging a canal in the 2nd century AD, but did not get a project under way.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|title=The land of the ancient Corinthians|last=Wiseman|first=James|publisher=P. Åström|year=1978|page=50|isbn=978-91-85058-78-5}}</ref> The [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] also considered it in 1687 after their [[Morean War|conquest of the Peloponnese]] but likewise did not initiate any work on the ground.<ref name=":2">{{Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century|page=344}}</ref>

[[File:Korinthosz - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument at the Corinth Canal remembering the architects]]