Peloponnese, also spelled Peloponnesus, Modern Greek Pelopónnisos, peninsula of

8,278 square miles (21,439 square km), a large, mountainous body of land jutting
southward into the Mediterranean that since antiquity has been a major region of
Greece, joined to the rest of mainland Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth. The name,
which is derived from Pelopos Nisos (Island of Pelops, a legendary hero), does not
appear in Homer, who preferred to apply the name of Árgos, a Mycenaean city-state,
to the whole peninsula. The Mycenaean civilization flourished in the 2nd millennium
BCE at such centres as Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos. The city-state of Sparta was
long the major rival of Athens for political and economic dominion over Greece
during the Classical period, from about the 5th century BCE until the Roman
conquest in the 2nd century. Under the Byzantine Empire the Peloponnese suffered
repeated incursions by warrior tribes from the north. In the 13th century CE it was
taken by the Franks, who held it for two centuries until it reverted to the last
Byzantine emperors. It was conquered by the Turks in 1460. By the 14th century the
Peloponnese was known as the Morea (Mulberry), first applied to Elis, a
northwestern mulberry-growing district, and it was the site of the Despotate of
Morea. Patras (Modern Greek: Pátrai), the major city in modern times, located in
the northern Peloponnese, has continued to gain commercial importance since the War
of Greek Independence (1821–29). Highways link all the major regions of the
Peloponnese, and there is an independent railway network that serves all the
districts except Laconia (Lakonía).

Pátrai
Pátrai
Pátrai (also called Patras) on the Gulf of Patraïkós, Peloponnese, Greece.
© Guillaume Piolle
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Alpheus River
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Alpheus River
river, Greece
Alternate titles: Alfiós Potamós, Alpheius River

BY The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica | View Edit History

Alpheus River, also spelled Alpheius, Modern Greek Alfiós Potamós, river, the
longest of the Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos), Greece, rising near Dhaviá
in central Arcadia (Arkadía), with a course of about 70 miles (110 km). Leaving the
plain of Megalópolis in a rugged gorge, above which it is known as the Elísson, the
Alpheus turns abruptly northwest and eventually empties into the Ionian Sea (Ióvio
Pélagos). Its main tributaries are the Ládhon and Erímanthos. The hydroelectric
Ládhon Dam near the village of Trópaia has created a lake 4 square miles (10 square
km) in area.

The shallow, gravelly stream receives its name from the ancient river god of the
Peloponnese, Alpheus, whose waters were said to pass beneath the Ionian Sea and
rise again in the fountain of Arethusa near Syracuse, Sicily. The legend may have
been inspired by the fact that the river disappears several times into the
limestone Arcadian mountains and reemerges after flowing some distance underground.

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Battle of Navarino
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Battle of Navarino
1827

BY Donald Sommerville | Last Updated: Oct 13, 2021 | View Edit History
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Pylos
Pylos
See all media
Date: October 20, 1827
Location: Greece Mediterranean Sea Bay of Navarino Peloponnese
Participants: Egypt France Ottoman Empire Russia United Kingdom
Context: War of Greek Independence
Key People: Ibrahim Pasha
Battle of Navarino, (Oct. 20, 1827), decisive naval engagement of the War of Greek
Independence against Turkey. The Turks, with assistance from Egypt, had gained the
upper hand in the Greek Independence War, but then Britain, France, and Russia
intervened, leading to the defeat of the Turkish and Egyptian navies in the last
fleet action of the sailing-ship era.

The Greek struggle for independence won considerable popular support in Britain and
France; Russia was traditionally hostile to Turkey and sympathetic to its Orthodox
coreligionists in Greece. Faced with the prospect of a Greek defeat and reports of
massacres of the Greek population, the allied powers each sent a naval squadron to
back up their calls for an armistice. Commanding the Egyptian-Turkish fleet was
Tahir Pasha; the allied force of British, French, and Russian ships was under
Admiral Sir Edward Codrington.

Louis IX of France (St. Louis), stained glass window of Louis IX during the
Crusades. (Unknown location.)
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After a blockade of the Turkish and Egyptian fleet in Navarino Bay, on the west
coast of the Peloponnese in the Ionian Sea, had no effect, Codrington agreed with
his allies to sail into the bay and force the Turko-Egyptians to either agree to an
armistice or have their ships destroyed. Although the allied fleet (11 ships of the
line, 9 frigates, and 4 smaller ships) was outnumbered by the Egyptian-Turkish
fleet (3 ships of the line, 15 frigates, and more than 50 smaller ships), most of
the latter were small and poorly armed. Sailing past shore batteries, the allies
anchored among the Turkish and Egyptian ships and tried to open negotiations-they
had orders not to fire first. The Turks unwisely fired on a boat carrying a British
message, whereupon the whole allied fleet fired in return.

It was a hopelessly one-sided combat. The British and French gunnery in particular
was vastly superior. Within a couple of hours about three-fourths of the Turkish
and Egyptian ships had been sunk or set on fire by their own crews to avoid
capture; no European ships were sunk. It was the last significant battle between
traditional wooden sailing ships.

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The Turks’ defeat was so complete that within 10 months they began to evacuate
Greece, an action that led to the creation of the independent Kingdom of Greece in
1832.

Losses: Allied, 700 dead and wounded; Turko-Egyptian, 4,000 dead and wounded, 60
ships destroyed.

Donald Sommerville