6 ms·

I 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

I 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 ago
I 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 ago
  They pulled their boats over land, but I have never heard about them building any paved trackways.
- Gravityloss 6y ago
  Fishermen crossed watersheds relatively often to enter pristine territory. Dragged their boats over.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Someone 6y ago
  https://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 ago
s/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.
  - nspattak 6y ago
    actually "diodos" is also a valid and widely used greek word: "δίοδος" ie diode :) edit: i just saw that you are also Greek, so you already know that.
    - StavrosK 6y ago
      Also it was in my comment :P
      - nspattak 6y ago
        LOL, I totally didn't see the part in the parenthesis! Και είσαι και απο το πί τσι κέι αν είδα καλά ;)
        StavrosK 6y ago
        Τουκ ρεπρεζεντ!
pjc50 6y ago
The paved trackway is unique and the scale is huge, especially for a pre-industrial society. The general term for bringing a ship over land in English is "portage", but normally it's for things like canoes. Cambridge University has a set of "rollers" that are maybe 10m long and 2m high used for transferring punts between two sections of the river. Bringing partially-dismantled ships over land led to one of history's stranger naval engagements on an entirely landlocked lake with no direct access to the sea: https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/lake-tanganykas-naval-battles/ https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/lake-tanganykas-naval...
- janandonly 6y ago
  This is great stuff ! When in Africa, Simson still went on with his eccentricities, wearing at all time a tiny skirt, and after his December victory, performing some sort of ritual bath twice a week in front of the locals that quickly saw in him a natural leader and went to revere him. Heavily tattooed, he was soon named “lord of the loincloth”.
Someone 6y ago
It isn’t unique, but fairly rare (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage) I guess that’s because “similar parts of the world” are fairly rare. Requirements are that the shortcut is faster, safer, or cheaper (that Wikipedia page mentions an example where it was done to avoid taxes) than the detour over water, the land journey too steep (you’ll need beaches either side), and there’s a good reason to be at either side of the journey. I think that means you need population centers at either side.
- mci 6y ago
  The article you linked to is incomplete. There are five such ramps in operation on the Elbląg Canal in Northern Poland [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal#The_inclined_planes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal#The_inclined...
- boxed 6y ago
  The crest of Sollentuna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sollentuna_Municipality?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sollentuna_Municipality?wprov=...) illustrates that the Vikings did this in the area.

flohofwoe 6y ago

I 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 ago
They pulled their boats over land, but I have never heard about them building any paved trackways.
Gravityloss 6y ago
Fishermen crossed watersheds relatively often to enter pristine territory. Dragged their boats over.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Someone 6y ago
https://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 ago

s/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.
- nspattak 6y ago
  actually "diodos" is also a valid and widely used greek word: "δίοδος" ie diode :) edit: i just saw that you are also Greek, so you already know that.
  - StavrosK 6y ago
    Also it was in my comment :P
    - nspattak 6y ago
      LOL, I totally didn't see the part in the parenthesis! Και είσαι και απο το πί τσι κέι αν είδα καλά ;)
      - StavrosK 6y ago
        Τουκ ρεπρεζεντ!

pjc50 6y ago

The paved trackway is unique and the scale is huge, especially for a pre-industrial society. The general term for bringing a ship over land in English is "portage", but normally it's for things like canoes. Cambridge University has a set of "rollers" that are maybe 10m long and 2m high used for transferring punts between two sections of the river. Bringing partially-dismantled ships over land led to one of history's stranger naval engagements on an entirely landlocked lake with no direct access to the sea: https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/lake-tanganykas-naval-battles/ https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/lake-tanganykas-naval...

janandonly 6y ago
This is great stuff ! When in Africa, Simson still went on with his eccentricities, wearing at all time a tiny skirt, and after his December victory, performing some sort of ritual bath twice a week in front of the locals that quickly saw in him a natural leader and went to revere him. Heavily tattooed, he was soon named “lord of the loincloth”.

Someone 6y ago

It isn’t unique, but fairly rare (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage) I guess that’s because “similar parts of the world” are fairly rare. Requirements are that the shortcut is faster, safer, or cheaper (that Wikipedia page mentions an example where it was done to avoid taxes) than the detour over water, the land journey too steep (you’ll need beaches either side), and there’s a good reason to be at either side of the journey. I think that means you need population centers at either side.

mci 6y ago
The article you linked to is incomplete. There are five such ramps in operation on the Elbląg Canal in Northern Poland [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal#The_inclined_planes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal#The_inclined...
boxed 6y ago
The crest of Sollentuna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sollentuna_Municipality?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sollentuna_Municipality?wprov=...) illustrates that the Vikings did this in the area.