Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; , colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea () and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

and cape in the southeast of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

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 ...

. To distinguish it from the cape, the peninsula is sometimes referred to as "Epidavros Limira" peninsula, after the most prominent ancient city located on it. It separates the

Laconian Gulf The Laconian Gulf (), is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese. In the shape of an inverted "U", it is approximately wide east to west, and long north to so ...

in the west from 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 ...

in the east. It is the second most southerly point of mainland

(after Cape Matapan) and once featured one of the largest light-houses in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. The seas around the cape are notoriously treacherous and difficult to navigate, featuring variable weather and occasionally very powerful storms.

Geography

Cape Maleas is in the regional unit of

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

. The municipality of

Monemvasia Monemvasia (, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located in mainland Greece on a tied island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. Monemvasia is connected to the rest of the mainland by a ...

covers the entire peninsula and part of the eastern coast. The municipal unit of Voies () is located in the southern extremity of the peninsula, with Neapoli, the largest town on the peninsula. To the west of the peninsula lies the island of Elafonisos, known for its long, light-coloured sandy beaches.

History

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

times it was a busy shipping lane, and one of the major routes for crossing from the northeast

to the west. The cape was notorious for its bad weather at the time as well, most famously as recounted in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', and much later by

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

in ''Hellenica.''

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

describes how

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

on his return home to Ithaca rounds Cape Maleas only to be blown off course, resulting in his being lost for up to 10 years by some people's reckoning. Xenophon records the occasion when

Callicratidas Callicratidas () was a Spartan navarch during the Peloponnesian War. He belonged to the mothax class so he was not a Spartiate, despite his status he had risen to prominence. In 406 BC, he was sent to the Aegean to take command of the Spartan f ...

camped his sailors for dinner before attacking the Athenians in Arginusae, when a thunderstorm delayed Callicratidas's embarkment.''Hellenica'' 1.6.26-28 The Cape's importance declined with the opening of the

Corinth Canal The Corinth Canal () is a canal in Greece that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and "separates" the Peloponnese peninsula fro ...

, which allowed ships to bypass the

rather than circumnavigating it. However, it still has significant amounts of sea traffic as the Corinth Canal can only accommodate ships less than 21m in width. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the German occupying forces began construction of a military tower for defense and surveillance of the major shipping lane. The construction was halted with the end of occupation in 1944.

References

{{Reflist Malea Malea Malea Landforms of Peloponnese (region)