TheXerxes Canal (Greek:Διώρυγα του Ξέρξη) was a navigablecanal through the base of theMount Athos peninsula inChalkidiki, northernGreece, built in the 5th century BC. KingXerxes I ofPersia ordered its construction, which was overseen by his engineerArtachaees, as part of Xerxes' preparations for hissecond invasion of Greece in theGreco-Persian Wars. It is one of the few monuments left by thePersian Empire inEurope.[1]
The canal is located near the village ofNea Roda in the Athos peninsula. Starting to the east of Nea Roda on the north coast it follows a fairly straight southwesterly direction towards the south coast, ending west of the villageTripiti. The canal is now completely covered by sediments, but its outline is visible from air photos, and has been detected by several surveys. The total length of the canal was 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), its width was 30 metres (100 ft), and it was 3 metres (10 ft) deep, enough for atrireme to pass.[1] One end is at40°22′52.8″N23°55′43.2″E / 40.381333°N 23.928667°E /40.381333; 23.928667 (Northern end) , the other at40°21′54.2″N23°54′53.9″E / 40.365056°N 23.914972°E /40.365056; 23.914972 (Southern end) .
According to theHistories of the ancient Greek historianHerodotus, which recounts the events of theGreco-Persian Wars, the Persian commanderMardonios, in 492 BC, lost a great part of his fleet, 300 ships and 20,000 men, in a storm going around the cliffs of theAthos peninsula, during theFirst Persian invasion of Greece.[2]
Xerxes, in preparation for theSecond Persian invasion of Greece, in 483 BC ordered a channel built through the Athos isthmus in order to avoid falling prey to the same catastrophe.[3] Herodotus speculates that pride also was a motivating factor:
As far as I can judge by conjecture, Xerxes gave the command for this digging out of pride, wishing to display his power and leave a memorial; with no trouble they could have drawn their ships across the isthmus, yet he ordered them to dig a canal from sea to sea, wide enough to float two triremes rowed abreast.[4]
The work, led by the two PersiansBubares andArtachaees, lasted three years. It was completed in 480 BC by forcibly recruited locals, as well asEgyptian andPhoenician workers.[5] The length, according to Herodotus, was 12stadia (about 1,900 metres or 6,200 feet),[3] and it was capped at both ends bydikes to prevent surf from clogging it.[6] The canal soon fell into disrepair as it was not used after the Persian fleet had passed through on their way first to thebattle of Artemisium and then on tothat of Salamis.[1]
The canal still formed part of the landscape 80 years later as it is mentioned in passing byThucidydes inThe History of the Peloponnesian War from around 400 BC:
After the taking of Amphipolis, Brasidas and his allies marched to the so-called Actè, or coastland, which runs out from the canal made by the Persian King and extends into the peninsula; it ends in Athos, a high mountain projecting into theAegean sea.[7]
The veracity of Herodotus' claims was doubted already in ancient times, but land surveys and geophysical investigations of the peninsula have confirmed the canal's existence.[1]
In the second century BC,Demetrius of Scepsis stated—based on first-hand information—that there had indeed been a canal there, but he could not trace all of it.[1]
Three separate modern land surveys, led by the FrenchmanM. Choiseul-Gouffier in the 18th century, byT. Spratt of England in 1838, and by the GermanA. Struck in 1901, all found evidence of the canal in the central part of the isthmus. But as late as 1990 the length and width of the canal were in dispute, as was the question of whether the canal reached all the way across the isthmus or if ships were dragged through parts of it.[1]
A British and Greek collaborative geophysical investigation launched in the 1990s found, usingseismic survey and sediment analysis, that the canal had crossed the whole isthmus. Herodotus' account was vindicated, as they also confirmed that the canal was constructed rapidly and that it was only used for a short period of time.[1]
Some studies suggest the workers were both regular Achaemenid soldiers and recruited local Balkan people (Thracians and Greeks) with the legal status ofkurtaš, who were paid for and fed from the Persian treasury.[8]
40°22′24″N23°55′28″E / 40.3732°N 23.9245°E /40.3732; 23.9245