Herodotus, Hist. 7, 22-24
Xerxes’ Canal
[22] In the first place, because the previous expedition had come to grief while sailing
around Athos, he spent about three years making sure he would be ready for Athos when
the time came. Elaeus in the Chersonese was made the headquarters, triremes were
stationed there, and troops of all different backgrounds were set to work in relays, under
the whip, digging a canal. The local inhabitants of Athos worked on the excavation as
well. The work was supervised by two Persians, Bubares the son of Megabazus and
Artachaees the son of Artaeus. Now, Athos is a large, famous, inhabited mountain jutting
out into the sea; where it joins the mainland, it is shaped like a peninsula and forms an
isthmus about twelve stades wide, and the terrain there, between the Acanthian Sea and
the sea off Torone, is level, with low hills. On this isthmus, where Athos ends, there is the
Greek settlement of Sane. Beyond Sane, within Athos itself, are Dion, Olophyxus,
Acrothoüm, Tyssus, and Cleonae –places which the Persians king now intended to turn
into island instead of mainland communities.
[23] These are the communities on Mount Athos. The way the invaders went
about the excavation was to draw a straight line across the isthmus near Sane and then
assign each of the various nationalities a section of land to dig. Once the trench had
become deep, some med stood at the bottom and carried on digging, while others passed
the earth that was constantly being dug out to others who were standing on platforms
further up the diggings, who in turn passed it on to others, until it reached the top, where
the earth was taken away and disposed of. Everyone else apart from the Phoenicians
found that the steep sides of the trench kept collapsing and doubling their work-load, but
then were making the width at the top of the trench and at the bottom of the same, which
was bound to cause something like that to happen. But the Phoenicians, who are
invariably practical, showed their usual skill on this occasion: once they had been
assigned their plot of land to work on, they set about making the opening at the top of the
trench twice as wide as the usual canal was to be, and gradually reduced the width as they
dug down, until by the time they reached the bottom they were working to the same
width as everyone else. A local field was turned into a business centre and market-place,
but flour was brought from Asia in large quantities.
[24] On reflection it seems to me that Xerxes ordered the digging of the canal out
of a sense of grandiosity and arrogance, because he wanted to display his power and
leave a memorial. After all, he could have saved all that hard work and had the ships
dragged across the isthmus, but instead he ordered a channel to be dug for the sea, wide
enough for two triremes to be rowed abreast along it. The same men who were given the
job of digging the canal were also set to work bridging the River Strymon.
The Fleet sails through the canal:
[122] However, the fleet was now sent on ahead by Xerxes. It sailed along the
canal that had been excavated on the peninsula of Athos and through to the gulf where
Assa, Pilorus, Singus, and Sarte are situated. Additional troops were recruited from these
places, and then the fleet steered for the Gulf of Therma. It rounded Ampelus, the
headland in Toronian territory, and sailed past Torone, Galepsus, Sermyle, Mecyberna,
and Olynthus –Greek towns from which they recruited both ships and troops. Sithonia is
the name of the district where these towns are.
Magnesian Coast:
[190] The most conservative estimate of how many ships were lost in this disaster
is four hundred, along with innumerable personnel, and so much valuable property that a
Magnesian called Ameinocles the son of Cretines, who owned land near Sepias, profited
immensely from this naval catastrophe. In the following days and months gold and silver
cups were washed ashore in large numbers for him to pick up; he also found Persian
treasure-chests, and in general became immensely wealthy. However, although he
became very rich from all that he found, he was unlucky in other respects; like other
people, he had his share of grief –in his case the horrible accident of killing his own
child.
[191] An untold number of supply vessels, such as those carrying grain, were lost.
In fact, the commanders of the fleet became worried about the Thessalians attacking them
while they were vulnerable from the disaster, so they built a tall, protective palisade,
made out of the remains of the wrecked ships. The storm raged for three days. Finally,
the Magi performed sacrifices and set about soothing the wind with spells, and also
sacrificed to Thetis and the Nereids, until the storm died down on the fourth day –or
maybe it did so of its own accord. They offered sacrifices to Thetis because the Ionians
told them that this was the place from where she had been abducted by Peleus, and that
the whole of Cape Sepias was sacred to her and her follow Nereids.
[192] On the fourth day the storm stopped. The day after the start of the storm the
look-outs on the Euboean hills raced down from their posts and let the Greeks know all
about the wrecking of the fleet. When the Greeks heard the news, they gave prayers of
thanks and poured libations to Poseidon the Saviour, and then sailed back as fast as they
could to Artemisium, on the assumption that there would now be few ships to oppose
them. Back in Artemisium, they remained as battle stations. This was the origin of the
worship that still goes on at Athens of Poseidon as the Saviour.