Aegean Sea - Greece Index

Aegean Sea is the area of the Mediterranean between Greece and Asia Minor.

The Aegean Sea is bounded to west and north by the coastline of the eastern Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace, and to north and east by the coastline of European and Asiatic Turkey.

To the south it is bounded by the Dodecanese Islands and Crete.

To the northeast it joins the Black Sea via the Strait of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus.

The Aegean Sea covers an area of 250,000 square metres and has a deeply riven coastline. Aegean sea is divided into the smaller Thracian, Icarian, Carpathian and Myrtoan Seas and the Sea of Crete, which extend around the coasts of the lands and islands they are named after.

The Aegean Sea is a tectonic rift basin formed about 2.5 million years ago, flooding Aegeis, the ancient landmass between mainland Greece and Asia Minor. The highest peaks of Aegeis remained above the surface of the sea to form the Aegean islands. There are about 2,000 islands in the Aegean Sea, divided into three large groups: the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and the Sporades.

The main ports on the Aegean Sea are those of Piraeus, Volos, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupoli and Smyrna (Izmir).