Xerxes Canal

Xerxes Canal
Map of the base of the Athos peninsula, with the course of the canal marked.
Mount Athos peninsula from the stratosphere (at an altitude of 23 km), and simulation of the Xerxes Canal (seen from north).

The Xerxes Canal (Greek: Διώρυγα του Ξέρξη) was a navigable canal through the base of the Mount Athos peninsula in Chalkidiki, northern Greece, built in the 5th century BC. King Xerxes I of Persia ordered its construction, which was overseen by his engineer Artachaees, as part of Xerxes' preparations for his second invasion of Greece in the Greco-Persian Wars. It is one of the few monuments left by the Persian Empire in Europe.

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