The Aegean Sea; Turkish: Ege Denizi or Adalar Denizi) is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean
Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of
Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles
and Bosporus. The Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern
periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was traditionally known as Archipelago,
but in English this word's meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally,
to any island group.
Etymology In ancient times, there were various explanations
for the name Aegean. It was said to have been named after the Greek town of Aegae, or after
Aegea, a queen of the Amazons who died in the sea, or Aigaion, the "sea goat", another
name of Briareus, one of the archaic Hecatonchires, or, especially among the Athenians, Aegeus,
the father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died.
A possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = "waves"
"goat"), hence "wavy sea", cf. also αἰγιαλός + hals), hence meaning "sea-shore".
The Venetians, who dominated many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages, popularized
the name Archipelago, a name that held on in many European countries until the early
modern period. In some South Slavic languages the Aegean
is often called White Sea. Geography
The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres in area, and measures about 610
kilometres longitudinally and 300 kilometres latitudinally. The sea's maximum depth is
3,543 metres, east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following
islands delimiting the sea on the south: Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos and Rhodes.
The Aegean Islands, which almost all belong to Greece, can be divided into seven groups:
Northeastern Aegean Islands Euboea
Northern Sporades Cyclades
Saronic Islands Dodecanese, with the exclusion of Kastellorizo
Crete The word archipelago was originally applied
specifically to the Aegean Sea and its 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.
The bays and gulfs of the Aegean beginning at the South and moving clockwise include
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, Gulf of Çandarlı, İzmir Gulf, Kuşadası
Gulf, Gulf of Gökova, Güllük Gulf. Extent
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows:
On the South. A line running from Cape Aspro in Asia Minor, to Cum Burnù the Northeast
extreme of the Island of Rhodes, through the island to Cape Prasonisi, the Southwest point
thereof, on to Vrontos Point in Skarpanto [Karpathos], through this island to Castello
Point, the South extreme thereof, across to Cape Plaka, through Crete to Agria Grabusa,
the Northwest extreme thereof, thence to Cape Apolitares in Antikithera Island, through
the island to Psira Rock and across to Cape Trakhili in Kithera Island, through Kithera
to the Northwest point and thence to Cape Santa Maria in the Morea.In the Dardanelles.
A line joining Kum Kale and Cape Helles.
Hydrography
Aegean surface water circulates in a counter-clockwise gyre, with hypersaline Mediterranean water
moving northward along the west coast of Turkey, before being displaced by less dense Black
Sea outflow. The dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth
of 23–30 metres, then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara
at velocities of 5–15 cm/s. The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern
Aegean Sea, then flows southwards along the east coast of Greece.
The physical oceanography of the Aegean Sea is controlled mainly by the regional climate,
the fresh water discharge from major rivers draining southeastern Europe, and the seasonal
variations in the Black Sea surface water outflow through the Dardanelles Strait.
Analysis of the Aegean during 1991 and 1992 revealed 3 distinct water masses:
Aegean Sea Surface Water – 40–50 metres thick veneer, with summer temperatures of
21–26 °C and winter temperatures ranging from 10 °C in the north to 16 °C in the
south. Aegean Sea Intermediate Water – Aegean Sea
Intermediate Water extends from 40–50 m to 200–300 metres with temperatures ranging
from 11–18 °C. Aegean Sea Bottom Water – occurring at depths
below 500–1000 m with a very uniform temperature and salinity.
History
The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC. Before that time, at the peak of
the last ice age sea levels everywhere were 130 metres lower, and there were large well-watered
coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the
present-day islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably
still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared c. 7000 BC, with
post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that.
The subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise
to the general term Aegean civilization. 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 Athenian Empire and Hellenic Civilization. Plato described the Greeks living round the
Aegean "like frogs around a pond". The Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and
the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the
Genoese, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the original
democracies, and its seaways were the means of contact among several diverse civilizations
of the Eastern Mediterranean. Economics and politics
Many of the islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays. In ancient times, navigation
through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland.
Many of the islands are volcanic, and marble and iron are mined on other islands. The larger
islands have some fertile valleys and plains. Of the main islands in the Aegean Sea, two
belong to Turkey – Bozcaada and Gökçeada; the rest belong to Greece. Between the two
countries, there are political disputes over several aspects of political control over
the Aegean space, including the size of territorial waters, air control and the delimitation of
economic rights to the continental shelf. See also
Aegean languages List of traditional Greek place names
Thracian Sea References
External links "Cultural Portal of the Aegean Archipelago".
Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved 9 July 2012.