ATHENS (National Geographic) -- Historians had long believed the Xerxes Canal was a myth, but they never stopped searching for it. For millennia the only evidence of this engineering feat was found primarily in one written source, leading many scholars to scoff at the existence of a canal built so that the mighty navy of Persia could pass through it in 480 B.C.
Recent archaeological finds on the Mount Athos Peninsula in modern-day Greece suggest the engineering marvel did indeed exist. Its creation is a vivid reminder of ancient Persia’s wealth, strength, and inventiveness, which Athens and other city-states faced when this mighty foe invaded their lands.
Faint traces of the Xerxes Canal are still discernible today in the farmland on the narrowest part of the Mount Athos Peninsula. The canal once ran between the modern-day towns of Néa Roda and Trypiti. Research carried out between 1991 and 2001 revealed that at its widest point, at the surface, the canal spanned almost one hundred feet, tapering to about 50 feet at its base. The canal bed would have been around 10 feet below sea level, deep enough for the triremes but not for heavy cargo ships. The Xerxes Canal is remarkable but not unique in the ancient world. Darius I, Xerxes’ father, had re-excavated an ancient pharaonic canal in Egypt that linked the Red Sea with the Nile Delta. That canal had a maximum width of almost 150 feet at the surface and was over 16 feet deep.
The story of the canal takes place during the Greco-Persian wars of the fifth century B.C. Many battles, such as those at Marathon and Salamis, have become famous underdog tales in which the Greeks challenge a much more powerful Persian foe—and win. The Canal of Xerxes reveals the power of their adversaries.
The origins of the wars can be found at the dawn of the fifth century B.C., when the Ionian Greeks, who lived along the western coast of modern-day Turkey, revolted against their Persian overlords. In 494 B.C., Persian ruler Darius the Great crushed the Ionian-Greek rebels at the Battle of Lade and then destroyed the Ionian city of Miletus. Having brought the Ionians to heel, Darius sought revenge against their allies—the Athenians.
From this point on, Darius’ fortunes changed abruptly: In 492 B.C., as a large part of the Persian fleet rounded the peninsula of Mount Athos, a fierce storm blasted in from the north. The light and fast Persian warships were vulnerable in adverse conditions. Sitting high in the water, they quickly became unstable in strong winds. The tempest dashed some 300 Persian ships against the cliffs of the peninsula and killed as many as 20,000 sailors.
Two years later, in 490 B.C., Darius was humiliated by Athens on the shore at Marathon and retreated with his forces back to Asia. Distracted by a revolt in Egypt during his last years, Darius died without fulfilling his dream of ruling the Greek world. His son and successor, Xerxes, began meticulous preparations to subdue Greece once and for all.
In spring 480 B.C., Xerxes launched a massive amphibious attack on Greece, a campaign that opened with spectacular displays of military engineering. Xerxes’ first major logistical task in the new invasion was to ferry his vast army across the Dardanelles Strait (also known as the Hellespont) that separates Asia from Europe. A pontoon bridge, constructed of boats tied together, was strung out across the turbulent stretch of water, nearly a mile wide.
Having reached the European side, Xerxes’ armies marched overland along the northern Aegean coast, through the region known historically as Thrace. The Persian navy, meanwhile, followed the coast until meeting the barrier of the Mount Athos Peninsula, just south of the modern-day Greek city of Thessaloniki.