The Pineios (, , , referred to in Latin sources as Peneus) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

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 ...

. The river is named after the god

Peneus In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers, a child of Oceanus and Tethys. Family The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three ...

. During the later

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, it was also known as the Salamvrias or Salavrias (Σαλα ��ριάς). Pinios river and church of Agios Achilios

It flows from the

Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; ; ; ) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly long, with a maximum elevation of (Smolikas, Mount Smolikas). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epiru ...

mountains through the

Thessalian plain The Thessalian plain () is the dominant geographical feature of the Greek region of Thessaly. The plain is formed by the Pineios River and its tributaries and is surrounded by mountains: the Pindus mountain range to the west, which separates The ...

and empties into 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 ...

, northeast of the

Vale of Tempe The Vale of Tempe or Tembi (; ; ) is a gorge in the Tempi municipality of northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south, and between the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. The gorge was known to the Byz ...

, near Stomio. It creates a large delta, well known for its beauty and for many animal species, protected by international environmental treaties. Its total length is 205 km. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is . Its source is near the village Malakasi, on the eastern slope of the Pindus main range, east of

Metsovo Metsovo (; ) is a town in Epirus (region), Epirus, in the mountains of Pindus in northern Greece, between Ioannina to the west and Meteora to the east. The largest centre of Aromanians, Aromanian (Vlach) life in Greece, Metsovo is a large regio ...

. The

Meteora The Meteora (; , ) is a rock formation in the regional unit of Trikala, in Thessaly, in northwestern Greece, hosting one of the most prominent complexes of Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox monastery, monasteries, viewed locally as se ...

region and the city of

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

lie along the Pineios.

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

lies on its tributary, the Lithaios. In the 1960s, a freeway connecting

Athens 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 ...

and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

was constructed in much of the Vale of Tempe. Three ships of the Hellenic Navy have been named after the river.

Tributaries

Pineios major tributaries are: Malakassiótiko réma (stream), Mourgkánis (stream), Portaikós, Lithaíos, Pámissos, Enipeas and

Titarisios The Titarisios (, formerly Ξεριάς - ''Xerias'') is a river in Thessaly, Greece. It is a major tributary of the Pineios. The river begins at the western slopes of Mount Olympus and flows southwest, then south. It leaves the mountains near the ...

Places along the river

The Pineios flows along the following places, from the source downstream: Malakasi, Kalampaka, Megarchi, Megala Kalyvia, Farkadona,

, Evangelismos, Omolio.

References

External links

* * Rivers of Thessaly Landforms of Larissa (regional unit) Landforms of Trikala (regional unit) Rivers of Greece {{Greece-river-stub