Aegean Sea
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AEGEAN SEA CRUISING GUIDE
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An online cruising guide for yachts sailing in the Aegean Sea.
Background
The Aegean Sea is not only the cradle of western civilization but also one of the world's premier cruising regions because of its many anchorages and historical sites.
The Aegean Sea has an area of 214,000 km2. Its north-south axis is 330 nM and its east-west axis 162 nM. Other then its Greek and Turkish shore lines, it consists of 1,415 islands and islets most of them belonging to Greece. It is a deep sea with a maximum depth of 3,543 m (11,624 ft).
The history of the Aegean goes back to Neolithic times when the obsidian artifacts (knives, razors, spears, etc.) were made in the island of Milos. By 4000 BC Neolithic colonists were living on Crete and most of the Cyclades where an advanced civilization started to develop, the Cycladic Civilization ushering in the Bronze Age. These were the people who built a wealthy town in Akrotiri, Santorini with its magnificent fresco paintings. On Crete a new seafaring civilization, the Minoan flourished (2000-1450 BC) with its marvelous palaces, paintings, advanced plumbing, and vases. By 1500 BC a new civilization emerged on the Greek mainland, the Mycenean who spoke an early version of Greek, kept records on clay tablets, built palaces, traded with the Egyptians to the south and the Phoenicians to the east. In either the 12th or 11th century BC the Mycenaeans, also known as the Aecheans, invaded Troy. The [Trojan War] became part of the Greek oral tradition and told by many bards. One of them, Homer, wrote his famous epic poems the Iliad, describing the last year of the war and the Odyssey describing the travails of the return of the hero Odysseus from Troy to his native Ithaca.
The Mycenaeans were supplanted by the Dorians, Greek speaking people who came from the north. They brought the Iron Age to the Aegean and were the ancestors of the Spartans. Following this invasion the Aegean region lapses into a decline which has been labeled the “Dark Age” which lasted from 1150 to 800 BC. The period between 750 to 480 BC is known as the Archaic Period. During this time many of the historical Greek city-states (polis) developed and established many colonies along the Asian Aegean coast, democracy was invented in Athens, poetry (Hesiod, Homer, Alcaeus, Sappho, Corinna), philosophy and the sciences (Pythagoras, Anaximander, Thales) flourished. In the east the Lydians and the Carians were first invaded by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and then the Persians. The later made two invasions onto Greece. The first ended by the amazing Athenian victory of the Battle of Marathon at 490 BC. The second invasion, ten years later, led by the Persian “King of Kings” Xerxes resulted in the slaughter of the Spartan king Leonidas at Thermopilae, the destruction of Athens, and against great odds the total defeat of the Persian navy at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, and the rout of the Persian army and navy at Plataea and Mycale.
Charts
- BA 180 Aegean Sea
- Imray-Tetra G1 Mainland Greece and Peloponnisos
- Imray-Tetra G2 Aegean Sea (North Part)
- Imray-Tetra G3 Southern Aegean
- NIMA 54020 Aegean Sea (Greece-Turkey)
- NIMA 54021 Aegean Sea
- Greek 47 Aigaio Sea - Northern Part
- Greek 4 Aigaio Sea -Southern part
- Turkey 20 Aegean Sea
Radio Nets
Also see World Cruiser's Nets
- Greek Coast Guard - VHF 12
- Olympia Radio, This is the Greek VHF network. Local channels are listed in each individual port.
- Cellular Phone(GSM/GPRS), Despite the mountains and the numerous islands Greece and Turkey have very good GSM/GPRS coverage.
Weather and Winds
Details?
Sources for weather information:
Countries (and Ports)
| Greece | Turkey |
|---|---|
Entry/Exit
Islands and Groups
Passages
Popular passages & best timing, etc.
Forum Discussions
List links to discussion threads on the Cruiser Log Forum
References & Publications
External Links
- Aegean Sea (Wikipedia)
Personal Notes
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| | HOMEPAGE | Wiki Contents | Mediterranean | Greece | Turkey | Aegean Sea | |
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