History of the Peloponnesian War

The Corinthians are said to have been the first that changed the form of shipping into the nearest to that which is now in use, and at Corinth are reported to have been made the first galleys of all Greece.

Now it is well known that Aminocles, the shipwright of Corinth, built four ships at Samos; and from the time that Aminocles went to Samos until the end of this present war are at the most but three hundred years.

And the most ancient naval battle that we know of was fought between the Corinthians and the Corcyraeans, and from that battle to the same time are but two hundred and sixty years.

For Corinth, seated on an isthmus, had been always a place of traffic (because the Grecians of old, from within and without Peloponnesus, trading by land more than by sea, had no other intercourse one to another but through the Corinthians' territory), and was also wealthy in money, as appears by the poets, who have surnamed this town the rich. And after the Grecians had commerce also by sea, then likewise having furnished themselves with a navy, they scoured the sea of pirates and, affording traffic both by sea and land, mightily increased their city in revenue of money.