Xerxes Canal discovered in Greece after 2,500 years

Archaeologists and geophysicists from Greece and Britain have confirmed the existence of the Xerxes Canal, an ancient engineering feat located on the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece. Built between 483 and 480 BCE under the orders of the Achaemenid King Xerxes, the canal was designed to allow the Persian navy to bypass the dangerous Mount Athos cape and enter the Aegean Sea.

The canal was approximately two kilometers long and 30 meters wide. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the waterway was wide enough to allow two ships to pass through simultaneously. While the canal was long considered a matter of historical legend, its remains were physically located in the late 20th century near the ancient city of Stagira, between the modern villages of Nea Roda and Tripiiti.

The construction of the canal was a strategic response to the Ionian Revolt, during which Greek city-states supported rebels against the Achaemenid Empire. Following the destruction of Sardis, Xerxes commissioned the project to facilitate his military campaign against Greece.