The Isthmian Games were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, named for the isthmus of Corinth. They were held both the year before and after the Olympic Games, celebrating the end of the Olympiad. The games were held in honor and memory of Corinth's first king Melicertes, and multitudes came from far and wide to be entertained, celebrate, and show veneration. After the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC, Sicyon became the new host of the games, but the games returned to Corinth between 7 BC and 3 AD, and they continued to flourish until Emperor Theodosius I suppressed them as a pagan ritual.