9 ms·
Diolkos
- reedf1 6y agoGreece is a truly magical place - I would highly recommend a trip for anyone even vaguely interested in ancient history. There are little gems like this everywhere.
- weinzierl 6y agoThat is true and a good part of what is considered ancient Greece is nowadays part of Turkey. For little gems of ancient history don't forget the western coast of Anatolia. I personally can recommend Ephesus and Bergama.
- aloukissas 6y agoThere could definitely be an "Atlas Obscura, Greece Edition" book.
- nspattak 6y agoI didn't know that this was unique to Greece, I always thought that it would have happened in other similar parts of the world. fun fact (that I NEVER expected to explain in english! ): there is an expression in Greek which says "pussy can pull boats". Obviously there were prostitute services along the "diodos" as is commonly found in harbors and the "joke" behind this expression was that sailors preferred the hard work of pulling the boat on land and having a chance to meet women than sailing in the sea around peloponisos.
- flohofwoe 6y agoI seem to remember that the Norse also had a few of those over land trackways on their "Traderoute from the Varangians to the Greeks" across the Russian river network to get from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
- tokai 6y agoThey pulled their boats over land, but I have never heard about them building any paved trackways.
- Gravityloss 6y agoFishermen crossed watersheds relatively often to enter pristine territory. Dragged their boats over.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Someone 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don–Volga_portage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don–Volga_portage: “Don–Volga Portage (Russian: Волгодонская переволока, Volgodonskaya Perevoloka) refers to the ancient trade and military route located on the shortest distance (ca. 70 kilometers) between the major rivers Volga and Don, in today's Volgograd Oblast. The portage, where cargo and ships would be drawn over land either manually or by horse-drawn vehicles, was in use from the 1st millennium BCE to 1952 CE, when the Volga-Don Canal was opened.”
- tzot 6y agos/diodos/diolkos/
- StavrosK 6y ago"Diodos" means "through-way" (and that's where "diode" comes from), so it's not really wrong in the context. Might still be a typo, though.
- panosfilianos 6y agoThis is a very good video explanation of the whole process [22 min] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GtE0kfWDuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GtE0kfWDuU This (https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/section-tdf/movie/1092/13048 https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/section-tdf/movie/1092/13048) was written and directed by Theodosis Tassios (https://www.ellines.com/en/achievements/39373-the-awarded-doctor-and-structural-engineer/ https://www.ellines.com/en/achievements/39373-the-awarded-do...) who's a professor in NTUA (the most respected engineering school in Greece) and pretty knowledgeable in the area.
- lqet 6y agoThe video is fascinating, it really looks like a railway.
- StavrosK 6y ago> the most respected engineering school in Greece TUC begs to differ!
- panosfilianos 6y agoI assume that respect implies quality but does not, in any way, guarantee it.
- jonstewart 6y agoThanks for posting this!
- keiferski 6y agoDuring the Siege of Constantinople, the Ottomans constructed a similar path using logs. Meanwhile, despite some probing attacks, the Ottoman fleet under Baltoghlu could not enter the Golden Horn due to the chain the Byzantines had previously stretched across the entrance. Mehmed ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn, and dragged his ships over the hill, directly into the Golden Horn on 22 April, bypassing the chain barrier. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 205guy 6y agoSee also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes_Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes_Canal "a navigable canal through the base of the Mount Athos peninsula in Chalkidiki, northern Greece, built by king Xerxes I of Persia in the 5th century BCE. [...] The total length of the canal was two km, its width was 30 meters, and it was three meters deep, enough for a trireme to pass."