Hellespont (
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
,
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
; i.e. "Sea of Helle", variously named in classical literature
Hellespontium Pelagus,
Rectum Hellesponticum, and
Fretum Hellesponticum) was the ancient name of the narrow
straitA strait or straits is a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not navigable, for...
, now known by the modern European term
'the DardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosporus. It is located at approximately...
'. It was so called from
HelleHelle was a character in Greek mythology who figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Phrixus, son of Athamas and Nephele, along with his twin sister, Helle, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop...
, the daughter of
AthamasThe king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology, Athamas , was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino, daughter of Cadmus. With Ino, he had two children: Learches and Melicertes. Athamas also had a brother, Salmoneus,...
, who was drowned here in the
mythologyMythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
of the
Golden FleeceIn Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos . It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly...
. The Hellespont is one of the
Turkish StraitsThe term Turkish Straits refers to the two narrow straits in northwestern Turkey, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, that connect the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea on one side and the Aegean arm of the Mediterranean Sea on the other. They are conventionally considered the boundary between the...
, along with the
BosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part . It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
, that separate
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
from the continent of Europe.
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
tells us that c.
482 BC- Greece :* The Athenian archon Themistocles secures the ostracism of his opponents and becomes the political leader of Athens. The Athenian soldier and statesman, Aristides, is one of those ostracised due to his opposition to Themistocles' naval policy.- China :* While King Fuchai of Wu...
the king
XerxesXerxes the Great, also known as Xerxes I of Persia, was a Zoroastrian Persian Shahanshah of the Achaemenid Empire.Xerxes was the son of Darius the Great and his wife Atossa...
I of Persia (the son of Darius) had two bridges built across the width of the Hellespont at
AbydosFor other uses, see AbydosAbydos , an ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, situated at Nara Burnu or Nagara Point on the best harbor on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont. Across Abydos lies Sestus on the European side marking the shortest point in the Dardanelles, scarcely a mile broad...
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
GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
. This crossing was named by
AeschylusAeschylus was an ancient Greek playwright. He is often recognized as the father of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive, the others being Sophocles and Euripides...
in his tragedy
The PersiansThe Persians is an Athenian tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus. First produced in 472 BCE, it is the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre...
as the cause of divine intervention against Xerxes.
The Hellespont was also the body of water which
LeanderHero and Leander is a Greek myth, relating the story of Hērō , a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont, and Leander , a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait...
would cross in order to tryst with his beloved, the priestess
HeroHero and Leander is a Greek myth, relating the story of Hērō , a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont, and Leander , a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait...
. Lord Byron famously swam the Hellespont as a feat of his athletic prowess.
Xerxes' Crossing
According to
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
(vv.34), both bridges were destroyed by a storm and
Xerxes-People:*Xerxes I of Persia, reigned 485–465 BC, aka Xerxes the Great*Xerxes II of Persia, reigned 424 BC*Xerxes of Armenia, Armenian king, assassinated around 212 BC...
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 thrown
fettersFetters, shackles, footcuffs or leg irons are a kind of physical restraint used on the feet or ankles to allow walking but prevent running and kicking. The term "fetter" shares a root with the word "foot"....
into the strait, given it three hundred lashes and branded it with red-hot irons as the soldiers shouted at the water.
Herodotus commented that this was a "highly presumptuous way to address the Hellespont" but in no way atypical of Xerxes. (vii.35)
Harpalus the engineerHarpalus or Harpalos is a name reported by modern historical books as the engineer who built the pontoon bridge over the Hellespont for Xerxes in 480 BC...
eventually helped the invading armies to cross by lashing the ships together with their bows facing the current and two additional anchors.
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