Iranian officials visit the Xerxes Canal site in northern Greece. Credit: Evangelos Venetis

For the first time since the incredible passage of Xerxes’ fleet through the eponymous canal on the narrow isthmus connecting the Mount Athos peninsula with the rest of Chalkidiki 2,500 years ago, descendants of the ancient Persians have officially visited the site.

Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri, the Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, led a delegation to Greece and visited Nea Roda, Chalkidiki, the location of Xerxes’ legendary engineering feat.

This marked the first time an official delegation from Iran had visited the historic location of Xerxes’ Canal, which has been lost to sedimentation and erosion over the centuries.

The Iranian delegation was accompanied by Dr. Evangelos Venetis, a professor specializing in Islamic and Middle Eastern Affairs.

Xerxes Canal: From war monument to symbol of peace

They were welcomed by Stelios Valianos, the Mayor of the Aristotelis Municipality. After presenting the guests with small busts of Aristotle, the Mayor stated:

“The Canal of Xerxes is the only Persian technical project in Europe that is preparing to re-enter the map, not as a monument of a war campaign but as a symbol of peace, exchange, and tourism cooperation.”

Scientific confirmation of Herodotus

The location of the Xerxes Canal. Public Domain

For centuries, scholars treated the existence of Xerxes’ Canal with skepticism, often attributing it to the imagination or exaggeration of the ancient historian Herodotus. However, modern scientific research has overturned this view.

Herodotus, in the seventh book of his Histories, detailed the work, noting that the canal was wide enough for two triremes to sail side-by-side. He also pointed out that the project was not merely practical but served as a powerful symbolic display of imperial might, requiring enormous resources and manpower.

Since the 1990s, geo-archaeological, geophysical, and topographical studies in the Nea Roda area, with significant contributions from the British School at Athens, have located clear traces of a large artificial channel beneath the ground surface.

Boreholes and sediment analysis revealed a buried trench of significant width, which precisely matches the course of the ancient canal, confirming that the project truly cut through the isthmus from end to end.

Archaeologists anticipate that once detailed excavation begins, there will be sensational discoveries that will change existing data regarding the route of Xerxes and the Persians in Greece.

Historical context: The necessity of the Xerxes Canal

The location of the Xerxes canal. Public Domain

The canal was built during the Second Persian Invasion (480 BC). The Persian King, Xerxes I, sought to move a massive army and fleet with absolute safety. The Cape of Athos presented a severe navigation risk, as the Persian fleet under Mardonius had suffered heavy losses due to a violent storm in the same area just a few years earlier (492 BC). To avoid the dangerous circumnavigation, Xerxes ordered the channel to be dug across the isthmus at the base of the Athos peninsula, allowing his ships to pass safely from one sea to the other.

Professor and historian Evangelos Venetis emphasized the immense significance of the site for the visitors:

“The Canal of Xerxes at Nea Roda is the only tangible imprint of the Persians in all of Europe… It is the only major work that attests to their presence, and the Iranians treat it with great respect and awe. This is the first time in 2,500 years that descendants of the Persians will visit the point where Xerxes moved his fleet overland.”

He added that the enhancement of the Xerxes Canal site is expected to be included in a memorandum of cooperation between Greece and Iran.

The Canal’s enduring legacy

Today, while the canal is not visible as an open waterway, its trace still affects the land’s morphology and is discernible in the landscape and through aerial imaging.

The passage of Xerxes through the Nea Roda isthmus was the prelude to the great subsequent conflicts, including the Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, establishing its role as a pivotal event in global history.