Categories: Thessaly | Ilia | Greek rivers

Peneus River

The Peneus River (modern Greek: Πηνειός Piniós,) is one of two Greek rivers.

The first is named after the god Peneus and was known for most of the 1000s as the Salambria. It flows from the Pindus mountains and empties into the Aegean Sea, northeast of Tempe. The Meteora region and the cities of Trikala and Larissa lie along the River Piniós. In the 1960s, a freeway connecting Athens and Thessaloníke was constructed in much of the Tempe valley. The total length is 216 km and it begins in the north at the Pindus ranges east of Metsovo.

The battleship Pineios is named after the Thessalian Pineios.

Another Peneus River (probably not named after the god) flows from the mountain, Erymanthus (Olonos), and empties into a bay SW of Gastouni connecting the Ionian Sea. The river flows through the southern half of the Elia plain. The river passes through:

Aghia Triada
north of Simopoulo
Kentro
Ancient Elis
between Roupaki and Aghia Mavra
south of Kavasilas
east of Vartholomio

In ancient times, the river passed east of what is nowStaphidokampos , the Andravida Military Airport, Lechaina, and the former wetlands where is now drained for agricultural purposes near Aghios Panteleimonas. (name ?)

In the 1960s, the government began building an earth-shaped dam named the Peneus Dam (Φράγμα Πηνειού Fragma Pineiou, modern transliteration: Pineios, Pinios) to supply water for the north and much of Elia. This has flooded a couple of roads including those from Gastouni to Simopoulo, and from Borsi to Simopoulo which is now accessible over the earth dam. The direction is almost directly north to south. The water is not safe for drinking, because it contains some contaminants. The dam is considered the highest dam in Elia, but not the Peloponnese. The floodway length is nearly 1 km. It contains the prefecture's (then the Peloponnese's) longest suspended bridge which is suspended with concrete. Distance from Gastouni is 16 km, and Amaliada is nearly 20 km NE. The length of the road over the dam is nearly 2 km with a water control tower in the middle. Roads were remapped and now bypass Kentro. The population is around 200. The river is seldom dry but many of its tributaries during dry summers cease to flow.

External links

Categories: Thessaly | Ilia | Greek rivers