Aegean Sea
The
Aegean Sea is an arm of the
Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek peninsula and
Anatolia. It is connected to the
Marmara Sea and
Black Sea by the
Dardanelles and
Bosporus.
In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean. It was said to have been named after the town of
Aegae, or
Aegea, a queen of the
Amazons who died in the sea, or
Aegeus, the father of
Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died.
The
Greek name for the sea is (Aigaion Pelagos,
Modern Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος (Aigaio Pelagos)) and
Ege Denizi is the
Turkish. A possible etymology is a derivation from the dialect word (aiges) "waves" (
Hesychius; metaphorical use of (aix) "goat"), hence "wavy sea", cf. also (aigialos) "coast".
In ancient times the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the
Minoans of
Crete, and the
Mycenean Civilization of the
Peloponnese. Later arose the city-states of
Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the
Hellenic Civilization. The Aegean Sea was later inhabited by
Persians,
Romans, the
Byzantine Empire, the
Venetians, the
Seljuk Turks, and the
Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the original
democracies, and it allowed for contact between several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The
Aegean islands can be simply divided into seven groups: the
Thracian Sea group, the East Aegean group, the Northern
Sporades, the
Cyclades, the
Saronic Islands (or
Argo-Saronic Islands), the
Dodecanese and Crete. The word
archipelago was originally applied specifically to these islands. Many of the Aegean islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to
Chios, another extends across
Euboea to
Samos, and a third extends across the
Peloponnese and
Crete to
Rhodes, dividing the Aegean from the Mediterranean. Many of the islands have safe harbours and bays, but navigation through the sea is generally difficult. Many of the islands are
volcanic, and
marble and
iron are mined on other islands. The larger islands have some fertile valleys and plains. There are two islands of considerable size belonging to
Turkey on the Aegean Sea:
Bozcaada (
Greek: Τένεδος
Tenedos) and
Gökçeada (
Greek: Ίμβρος
Imvros).
The bays in gulfs counterclockwise includes on
Crete, the
Mirabelli,
Almyros,
Souda and
Chania bays or gulfs, on the mainland the
Myrtoan Sea to the west, the
Saronic Gulf northwestward, the
Petalies Gulf which connects with the
South Euboic Sea, the
Pagasetic Gulf which connects with the
North Euboic Sea, the
Thermian Gulf northwestward, the
Chalkidiki Peninsula including the
Cassandra and the
Singitic Gulfs, northward the
Strymonian Gulf and the
Gulf of Kavala and the rest are in
Turkey;
Saros Gulf,
Edremit Gulf, Dikili Gulf, Çandarlı Gulf,
İzmir Gulf,
Kuşadası Gulf, Gökova Gulf, Güllük Gulf.
The Aegean Sea has many ports especially on the islands, for ports, see the island chains or its gulfs and bays. The Greek borders of the Aegean Sea were also the locations of towns and cities in the heart of ancient Greece.
*
Aegean civilization*
Aegean dispute*
List of traditional Greek place names
