Abstract: A few months before his death, Caesar decided to establish a Roman colony on the spot where Corinth, destroyed in 146 BC, used to lie. The population of Roman Corinth was ethnically and socially diverse from the very beginning. This, however, does not change the fact that the city was a Roman colony, whose official name was Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis. With time, natural demographic processes started to take place, which on the one hand increased the original diversity, and on the other hand reinforced the strongest element of this diversity, i.e. Greekness. In this article, the author tries to answer the often-asked question about the circumstances in which Corinth – a Roman colony – started to be perceived as a hellenised city. What exactly does the “hellenisation” of Corinth mean and how does it show?

Key words: Roman Greece, Roman Corinth, “Hellenisation” of Roman Corinth.

A few months before his death, Caesar decided to establish a Roman colony on the spot where Corinth, destroyed in 146 BC, had once lain. For some time, the dictator had been implementing his plan of building Roman points of support along the coast of western Greece, which was a strategically important site, ensuring control over the routes connecting Italy, Greece, Macedonia and Asia Minor. After Caesar's death, the execution of the slightly modified plan was continued by Augustus, on whose initiative the colony at Patras was founded on the Peloponnese.