Aegospotami (, ''Aigos Potamoi'') or AegospotamosMish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Aegospotami.” '' Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfield, MA:

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...

Inc., 1985. , (indexed), and (deluxe). (i.e. ''Goat Streams'') is the ancient Greek name for a small river or rivers issuing into the

Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

(Modern Turkish ''Çanakkale Boğazı''), northeast of

Sestos Sestos (, ) was an ancient city in Thrace. It was located at the Thracian Chersonese peninsula on the European coast of the Hellespont, opposite the ancient city of Abydos, and near the town of Eceabat in Turkey. In Greek mythology, Sestos is ...

. Aegospotami is plural, which suggests that the name may have referred to multiple rivers. As is often the case, interpretation of geography described by ancient sources has difficulties, not the least of which is evolution of the terrain, and the river or rivers have been identified with both the modern Karakova Dere and Büyük Dere ("Big Creek", now called Münipbey Deresi). Körpe and Yavuz concurred with both Bommelaer and Strauss that the latter stream is the more likely candidate and additionally identified the probable site of the associated settlement as a rise on the left bank of the Münipbey Deresi known as Kalanuro Tepesi, based on geographical features and archaeological remnants. Aegospotami is located on the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

, near the modern Turkish town of Sütlüce, Gelibolu. At its mouth was the scene of the decisive

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

in 405 BC in which

Lysander Lysander (; ; 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played ...

destroyed the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

fleet, ending the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

.Guralnik, David B., Editor in Chief. “Aegospotami.” '' Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language''. Second College Edition. New York, NY:

Prentice Hall Press Prentice Hall was a major American educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth century. In its last few years it ...

, 1986. (indexed), (plain edge), (pbk.), and (LeatherKraft). The

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

township of the same name, whose existence is attested by coins of the 5th and 4th centuries, and the river itself were located in ancient

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

in the Chersonese. According to ancient sources including

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, in 467 BC a large

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

landed near Aegospotami. It was described as brown in colour and the size of a wagon load. A comet, tentatively identified as

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...

, was reported at the time the meteorite landed. This is possibly the first European record of Halley's comet.

References

Greek colonies in the Thracian Chersonese Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Rivers of Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Landforms of Çanakkale Province History of Çanakkale Province (+) Populated places in ancient Thrace {{Çanakkale-geo-stub