The Saronic Gulf (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

is formed between the peninsulas of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

and

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( el, Αργολίδα , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and part of the ...

and forms part of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth, being the eastern terminus of the

Corinth Canal The Corinth Canal ( el, Διώρυγα της Κορίνθου, translit=Dhioryga tis Korinthou) is an artificial canal in Greece, that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the ...

, which cuts across the isthmus. The

Saronic Islands The Saronic Islands or Argo-Saronic Islands is an archipelago in Greece, named after the Saronic Gulf in which they are located, just off the Greek mainland. The main inhabited islands of this group are Salamis, Aegina, Agistri, and Poros. The ...

in the gulf have played a pivotal role in the history of Greece, with the largest, Salamis, naming a significant naval battle in the

Greco-Persian wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of t ...

. The

Megara Gulf

The Megara Gulf ({{Lang-el, Κόλπος Μέγαρων, Kolpos ...

makes up the northern end of the Saronic Gulf. The capital of Greece,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, lies on the north coast of the Saronic Gulf.

Etymology

The origin of the gulf's name comes from the mythological king Saron who drowned at the Psifaei lake (modern Psifta). The Saronic Gulf was a string of six entrances to the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

, each guarded by a chthonic enemy in the shape of a thief or bandit.

History

The Battle of Salamis, just to the west of modern-day Piraeus, took place in the Saronic Gulf. This naval battle off Salamis Island saw the Athenians defeat Xerxes, assuring

its place as the cradle of modern European culture. The ancient port of

Cenchreae Kechries ( el, Κεχριές, rarely Κεχρεές) is a village in the municipality of Corinth in Corinthia in Greece, part of the community of Xylokeriza. Population 238 (2011). It takes its name from the ancient port town Kenchreai or Cenchr ...

used to be situated here.

Geography

The gulf includes the

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, Salamis, and

Poros Poros ( el, Πόρος) is a small Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about south from the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the ...

along with smaller islands of Patroklos and Fleves. The port of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

, Athens' port, lies on the northeastern edge of the gulf. The site of the former Ellinikon International Airport is also in the northeast. Beaches line much of the gulf coast from

to Epidaurus, Galataki to

Kineta Kineta ( el, Κινέτα) is a beach town in West Attica, Greece. It is part of the municipality Megara. Geography Kineta is situated on the northern coast of the Saronic Gulf, south of the Geraneia mountains. The rocks of Kakia Skala lie to ...

and from Megara to Eleusis and from Piraeus down to

Anavyssos Anavyssos ( el, Ανάβυσσος) is a town and a former municipality in East Attica, Greece located in the Athens Riviera. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Saronikos, of which it is a municipal unit. The m ...

. Athens' urban area surrounds the northern and the eastern coasts of this gulf. Bays in the gulf include Phaleron Bay, Elefsina Bay to the north,

Kechries Bay Kechries ( el, Κεχριές, rarely Κεχρεές) is a village in the municipality of Corinth in Corinthia in Greece, part of the community of Xylokeriza. Population 238 (2011). It takes its name from the ancient port town Kenchreai or Cenchr ...

in the northwest and Sofiko Bay in the east. The volcano of Methana is located to the southwest along with Kromyonia at the Isthmus of Corinth, Aegina and Poros. Methana is also the youngest most active volcano center and forms the northwestern end of the cycladic arch of active volcanoes that includes Milos island, Santorini island and Nisyros island. A hydropathic institute at Methana makes use of the hot sulphurous water that still surfaces in the area. The most recent eruption was of a submarine volcano north of Methana in the 17th century. The gulf has refineries around the northern part of the gulf including east of Corinth and west of Agioi Theodoroi, Eleusis, Aspropyrgos, Skaramangas and Keratsini. These refineries produce most of Greece's refined petroleum products, a large proportion of which are then exported. Commercial shipping to the refineries, Piraeus, and to and from the canal make the gulf quite a busy area with commercial shipping. Fault lines dominate especially in the northwestern part. Poros panorama

Tributaries

*Kechries Bay *Saronic Bay Coast (basin) **Lower Galataki Basin **Upper Galataki Basin ** Examilia Basin ** Athikia Basin * Loutro Basin *Megara Bay/

Megara Gulf

The Megara Gulf ({{Lang-el, Κόλπος Μέγαρων, Kolpos ...

* Cephissus River (Eleusis) *

Cephissus (Athenian plain) Cephissus ( grc, Κήφισσος; el, Κηφισός, ''Kifisos'') is a river in the vicinity of Athens, Greece. Together with the neighbouring river Ilisos, it drains a catchment area of . The '' Bibliotheca'' (3.15.1) states that the lege ...

between

and Phaliron.

Capes

* Cape Lomvardi - SW of

Vouliagmeni Vouliagmeni ( el, Βουλιαγμένη, meaning "sunken") is a seaside suburb and former municipality 20 km south of Athens city centre. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, of which ...

Sailing

Sailing is popular in the Saronic Gulf which, like the neighbouring Argolic Gulf, benefits from the Attic mainland's partial shelter from the summer Meltemi wind that can reach Force 7 and above further to the east in the Aegean islands. The Gulf boasts two particularly notable archaeological sites: the ancient theatre at Epidaurus and nearby asclepieion and the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina.

Other

The Saronic Gulf is one of congregating areas for

short-beaked common dolphin The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with ...

s in Aegean Sea. On recent occasions, more of large

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s such as

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ce ...

s have been sighted in the gulf due to improving environmental conditions.A rare Fin Whale visit in the Saronic Gulf
/ref>

References

{{Authority control Gulfs of Greece Gulfs of the Aegean Sea Landforms of Corinthia Landforms of Peloponnese (region) Landforms of Islands (regional unit) Landforms of Attica Landforms of Argolis Landforms of West Attica Landforms of East Attica Landforms of South Athens (regional unit)