Hellespont

According to Herodotus, fearing that the Greeks might attack the bridges across the Hellespont and trap his army in Europe, Xerxes decided to retreat back to Asia, taking the greater part of the army with him.

Alexandria is at about 31° North, and the region of the Hellespont about 40° North.

Green, Peter The Greco-Persian Wars (London 1996) 75. Herodotus commented that this was a "highly presumptuous way to address the Hellespont" but in no way atypical of Xerxes.

Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont and Black Sea in the east.

In retaliation, Xerxes ordered the Hellespont (the strait itself) whipped three hundred times, and had fetters thrown into the water.

It was said that the bridge was to rival that of the Persian king, Xerxes, crossing of the Hellespont.

Lysander (main or main; died 395 BC, Greek Λύσανδρος main, Lýsandros) was a Spartan admiral who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC.

The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the Hellespont (Dardanelles).

This represents the earth-moon system during a partial solar eclipse at A ( Alexandria ) and a total solar eclipse at H ( Hellespont ).

Xerxes decided that the Hellespont would be bridged to allow his army to cross to Europe, and that a canal should be dug across the isthmus of Mount Athos (rounding which headland, a Persian fleet had been destroyed in 492 BC).

Xerxes's second attempt to bridge the Hellespont was successful.