The beautiful Aegean name, as legend has it, the sea received on behalf of King Aegean. He, thinking that his son Theseus killed the Minotaur, could not bear the loss and threw himself from a cliff into the blue waters. Another version of the origin of the name is less tragic. Some believe that it came from the ancient Greek "ayges" meaning "wave." Another version says that the sea is named after the ancient city of Egeus, which was once located on the island of Euboea.
In general, in the Aegean Sea there are a lot of large inhabited and small
uninhabited islands. Some count them whiter than 3000. The most famous and largest are Rhodes, Crete, Naxos, Chios, Metilini, Samos, Santorini.
But, despite such an abundance, shipping here is one of the most developed in the world. Ships go on strictly laid routes, not deviating even an inch.
Sometimes they lie so close to the islands that, sitting on the deck, you can see faults in the rocks or small stones on the shore. But stranded ships in this area land extremely rarely.
Aegean Sea has various depths. In the southern part there are pits up to 2500 meters. But on average, the depth of the sea is 200-1000 meters. In summer, the wave is calm, rarely rises to 4-5 points. In autumn, and especially in winter, storms are 8–9 points and higher. There were times when a strong storm threw ships aground and destroyed the coastline of the islands.
Once the Aegean Sea washed the shores of Byzantium, the
Bulgarian kingdom, the Ottoman and Latin empires, Ancient Rome, ancient Greece. Now there are only two countries, Greece and Turkey, between which the conflict will not abate in any way, who will be the main in these waters. Greece has two major international ports here - Thessaloniki and Athens. Turkey has one port - Izmir.
In addition to shipping, the Aegean Sea is famous for fishing. Here, hundreds of tons of fish, squid, octopus, stingrays, crab, lobster, shrimp, sea urchins and other representatives of the marine fauna are caught. The craft for collecting sponges and decorative shells has also been developed. Due to the fact that the amount of plankton in this region has decreased, fewer fish have been caught in recent years. To ensure that its number does not decrease, fishing is allowed only in certain months. January 6 is celebrating Day of Light in Greece. Then, so that the coming season would be successful for fishermen, clerics consecrate the Aegean Sea. Greece sacredly honors this ancient custom and celebrates it very widely.
The tourism business on the islands and the coast is well developed. A huge number of hotels, beautiful promenades with restaurants and shops have been built here, there are water parks, surfing and diving centers. Each inhabited island has one or more ports. Tourists love the Aegean Sea. The water temperature here, however, does not pamper. Almost everywhere, it only rises in the summer to around 22 degrees Celsius. Even in May in many regions it barely reaches +19 degrees. It approaches the same mark in October.
By salinity, the Aegean Sea overtook the Black. Therefore, the density is high. It’s easy to swim, water all the time as if pushes a person’s body to the surface. But after swimming, it is necessary to wash off the salt with fresh water.
For tourists, not only beach, but also excursion vacations are organized here. There is a wonderful island museum in the Aegean Sea. It is called Dilos. Scientists have found that civilization flourished here long before the construction of the Acropolis of Athens. In addition to Dilos, inhabited islands, especially Mykonos, are of great interest. Hollywood celebrities like to relax here. In general, in the Aegean Sea all the islands are beautiful, you can have a wonderful rest here.