Lake Volvi ( - ''Límni Vólvi'') is located at the root of the

Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos reg ...

peninsula, in the Thessaloniki regional unit of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is the second largest lake in the country at length and width. Its area is 68 km² and its depth is 20 m. It is located east of Lake Koroneia (Lake Langadas). The

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a contin ...

Roman road runs along the northern shore of the lake, while a more ancient road ran along its southern one. On its east is the narrow valley of Rentina, also known as the "Macedonian Tempe". The

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Volvi and Langadas have shoreline on the lake.

History

About a million years ago, Lake Volvi, Lake Koroneia and the entire

Mygdonia Mygdonia (; ) was an ancient territory, part of ancient Thrace, later conquered by Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon, which comprised the plains around Therma (Thessalonica) together with the valleys of Klisali and Besikia, including the ar ...

formed a single huge lake. In the antique description by

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

, ''Bolbe'' was the name of a lake in Mygdonia, located near the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. The lake emptied itself into the Strymon Gulf by means of a stream flowing through the pass once known as Aulon or Arethusa. The name of the stream is not mentioned in the description, but it is evidently the Erechios (Romanized as ''Rechius'') mentioned in scholar Procopius' work, '' De aedificiis''. Among the smaller streams flowing into the lake, Ammites and Olynthiakos are also mentioned. The

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

(''labrach'') of the lake were particularly admired by the gastronomic poet

Archestratus Archestratus ( ''Archestratos'') was an ancient Greek poet of Gela or Syracuse, Magna Graecia, in Sicily, who wrote some time in the mid 4th century BCE, and was known as "the Daedalus of tasty dishes". His humorous didactic poem ''Hedypatheia ...

. Per Greek mythology, the lake goddess or

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

Bolbe dwelled in Lake Volvi. During the Ottoman period, the lake was named ''بشيك كولى'' "''Beşik Gölü''" (lit. ''Cradle Lake'') or "''Besikia''" (plural) in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. Ottoman Turkish forces, led by Yusuf bey, killed hundreds of Greek inhabitants by drowning in the lake during the

Greek war of independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. There was also a town named ''Bolbos'' (Romanized as ''Bolbus'') located near the lake. Today, there are two towns (villages) incorporating ''Vólvi'' in their name, situated along the lake. It is not known exactly if any of these modern towns correspond to the site of ancient Bolbos.

References

* http://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/131676/files/GRI-2013-10360.pdf

External links

{{Commons category
Article on Lake Volvi, with photos
Volvi Volvi Ramsar sites in Greece Landforms of Central Macedonia

History

See also

References

External links