- Hellespont
Hellespont (Turkish Polytonic| "Çanakkale Boğazı", Greek Polytonic| Ἑλλήσποντος; i.e. "Sea of Helle", variously named in classical literature "Hellespontium Pelagus", "Rectum Hellesponticum", and "Fretum Hellesponticum") was the ancient name of a narrow
strait , now known by the modern European term" 'the Dardanelles'." It was so called from Helle, the daughter ofAthamas , who was drowned here in themythology of theGolden Fleece .Herodotus tells us that c.482 BC the king Xerxes I ofPersia and son of Darius had two bridges built across the width of the Hellespont at Abydos in order that his huge army, ostensibly made of 5 million men (most historians put the actual number of this army at closer to 250,000 men, though a second school of thought lends the accounts of Herodotus more credence, bringing the number closer to 400,000), could cross from Persia into Greece. This crossing was named byAeschylus in his tragedy "The Persians " as the cause of divine intervention against Xerxes. [http://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/persians.html; the play.]The Hellespont was also the body of water which Leander would cross in order to tryst with his beloved, the priestess Hero.
Lord Byron famously swam the Hellespont as a feat of his athletic prowess.Xerxes' Crossing
According to
Herodotus (vv.34), both bridges were destroyed by a storm and Xerxes had those responsible for building the bridges beheaded and the strait itself whipped.The Histories of Herodotus vii.33-37 and vii.54-58 give details of Xerxes' building and crossing of the bridges. Xerxes is then said to have thrownfetters into the strait, given it three hundred lashes and branded it with red-hot irons as the soldiers shouted at the water. [Green, Peter "The Greco-Persian Wars" (London 1996) 75.]Herodotus commented that this was a "highly presumptuous way to address the Hellespont" but in no way atypical of Xerxes. (vii.35)
Harpalus the Macedonian eventually helped the invading armies to cross by lashing the ships together with their bows facing the current and two additional anchors. [Green, Peter "The Greco-Persian Wars" (London 1996) 75.]
Geographical information
It is located at approximately coord|40|13|N|26|26|E|. The strait is 61 kilometers (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometers (0.75 to 4 mi) wide, 55 meters (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 82 meters (300 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the
Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent. It is an important international shipping channel giving access toIstanbul and the variousBlack Sea ports beyondBosphorus .References
*1911
External links
* [http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/map13ga.html Map of Hellespont]
* [http://www.livius.org/he-hg/hellespont/hellespont.html Livius.org: Hellespont]
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