What the Hellespont are ‘the Dardanelles’? (ca. 480 – 334 BC)
Often referred to by its contemporary European name ‘the Dardanelles’, the Hellespont is actually a long, narrow strait that divides the Balkans from Asia Minor. While that may seem relatively unimportant, the Hellespont also connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which leads inward toward the Black Sea.
The Hellespont is 61 kilometers long, but only 1.2 to 6 kilometers wide at any given point – which is very, very narrow when it comes to sailing down the strait… not to mention the difficulties and danger that would be involved if a ship needed to be turned around at one of the narrowest spots. In addition, if ships needed to enter the Hellespont from the Black Sea – since that was the only way out – they had to wait on a little island called Tenedos until the winds were favorable enough to allow them to enter the strait. As a result, in ancient times, whoever controlled Tenedos basically controlled the Hellespont – and subsequently all traffic in and out of the Black Sea.
According to Greek legend, the little island of Tenedos was situated near the city of Troy – and after the Greeks left the Trojan horse at the gates of Troy, they went into hiding on Tenedos before conquering the city… and as later mythological events progressed, the strait became named after the mythological Helle, a woman who drowned there during the events of the myth of the Jason and the Golden Fleece.
History’s dealings with the Hellespont were no less dramatic: around 482 BC, King Xerxes I of Persia attempted to have a bridge built across the Hellespont’s width so that his army of “5 million men” (so Herodotus claims) could cross to the other side. Unfortunately for the architects, the first bridge was destroyed by a storm before anyone could cross. Of course, this caused Xerxes to lose his temper as only Xerxes could, and he had the heads of both his bridge architects cut off and ordered the river to be whipped three hundred times – that’s right, he had the water beaten. Thankfully for the next crew, the bridge was a success.
Later on, the Athenians would fight the Spartans at the Hellespont during the final battle of the Peloponnesian War. Unfortunately for the Athenians, the Spartan general Lysander managed to reach the Hellespont first, securing his position before the Athenian navy could arrive. If the navy had made it there first, history would have told a very different tale… but whoever controlled the Hellespont controlled the battle, and at the end of this battle, the Athenian Empire was no more.
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great would cross the Hellespont to invade Persia, an ironic twist on Xerxes’ invasion from the opposite direction just over a century before. Indeed, the Hellespont is full of spilt blood from centuries past – but its history teaches a lesson about the importance of strategic military positioning.
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