Cape Maleas
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Cape Malea
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Cape Maleas (also Cape Malea;
Mediterranean
. The seas around the cape are notoriously treacherous and difficult to navigate, featuring variable weather and occasionally very powerful storms.
Geography
Cape Maleas is in the
Neapoli
, the largest town on the peninsula.
To the west of the peninsula lies the island of Elafonisos, known for its long, light-coloured sandy beaches.
History
In
Mediterranean to the west. The cape was notorious for its bad weather at the time as well, most famously as recounted in the Odyssey, and much later by Xenophon in Hellenica. Homer describes how Odysseus on his return home to Ithaca rounds Cape Maleas only to be blown off course, resulting in his being lost for up to 10 years by some people's reckoning. Xenophon records the occasion when Callicratidas camped his sailors for dinner before attacking the Athenians in Arginusae, when a thunderstorm delayed Callicratidas's embarkment.[4]
The Cape's importance declined with the opening of the Corinth Canal, which allowed ships to bypass the Peloponnese rather than circumnavigating it. However, it still has significant amounts of sea traffic as the Corinth Canal can only accommodate ships less than 21m in width.
In World War II, the German occupying forces began construction of a military tower for defense and surveillance of the major shipping lane. The construction was halted with the end of occupation in 1944.
36°26′17″N 23°11′55″E / 36.43806°N 23.19861°E
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References
- ^ E.g., Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
- ^ Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 1.82.
- ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. viii. p.368. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^ Hellenica 1.6.26-28