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The Canal of Xerxes: facts and problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

B. S. J. Isserlin
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Abstract

Earlier accounts of the traces of Xerxes' canal are discussed and the results of a new survey of the remains presented.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 86 , November 1991 , pp. 83 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1991

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References

1 For a list of classical and later authorities who have referred to our subject see Oberhummer, E. in RE II (Stuttgart, 1896), col. 2067.Google Scholar

2 Leake, W.M., Travels in Greece I–IV (London, 1835; reprinted Amsterdam, 1967).Google Scholar

3 de Choiseul-Gouffier, M.G.A.P., Voyage pittoresque en Grèce I, II (Paris, 1782, 1809).Google Scholar

4 Spratt, T., ‘Remarks on the Isthmus of Mount Athos’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 17 (1847), 145–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 W.M. Leake, op. cit. (n. 1), III, 145; cf. Choiseul-Gouflier, op. cit. (n. 2), II, 147.

6 Montevecchi, F., ‘A proposito di alcune burrasche e disastri navali avvenuti in Mediterranceo nell' antichità’, in Sordi, M. (ed.) Fenomeni naturali e avvenimenti storici nell' antichità. Contributi dell' Istituto di storia anticha, XV. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milano, 1989), 22–34. esp. 24.Google Scholar

7 Cf. Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., II, 146–7 with reference to Herodotus VII, 22.

8 Der Kleine Pauly V (München, 1976), 334–6 s.v. Stadion (O.W. Reinmuth).

9 Cf. Morrison, J.S. and Coates, J.F., The Athenian Trireme (Cambridge, 1987), 199, fig. 57.Google Scholar

10 F. Montevecchi, op. cit. (n. 6), 25.

11 Dragging is assumed by Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit. II, 149.

12 Der Kleine Pauly IV (München, 1982), 927 s.v. Plethron (H. Chantraine).

13 As by Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., 150.

14 Cf, in general, Hacourt, L.F. Vernon, A Treatise on Rivers and Canals (Oxford, 1882), I, 153–201, passimGoogle Scholar; II, pl. 11, figs. 2, 3, 4; pl. 12, figs. 3, 4. On Motya see for the moment Isserlin, B. S. J., ‘New Light on the Cothon at Motya’, Antiquity 45 (1971), 178–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar and fig. 7. Fuller details are to appear in Motya III later.

15 F. Montevecchi, op. cit., 24.

16 Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., II, 150.

17 W.M. Leake, op. cit. III, 144; T. Spratt, op. cit., 147.

18 Spratt, op. cit., 147.

19 Leake, op. cit., III, 144.

20 Spratt, op. cit., 146–7.

21 An assessment of possible changes in sea level since antiquity by a competent specialist would obviously be of great interest for our subject.

22 Spratt, op. cit., 147.

23 For the application of clay to canal banks see the article by SirWilliams, Edward L. in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), V (London, 1910), 169Google Scholar, s.v. Canal. Clay is here said to provide water proofing.

24 Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., II, 150.

25 Montevecchi, op. cit., 25.

26 Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., II, 150.

27 Choiseul-Gouffier, op. cit., 148.

28 Information kindly provided by Dr Julia Vokotopoulou, the Director of the Museum in Thessalonica.