- Alpheus River
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River, southern Greece.About 75 mi (120 km) long, it is the longest river in the Peloponnese. It rises in Arcadia and flows northwest through southern Elias into the Ionian Sea. Olympia is on its northern bank. It shares its name with the ancient river god, and it figures in Greek legend, including Hercules' cleaning of the Augean stables, and in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan."
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also spelled Alpheius, Modern Greek Alfiós Potamós,river, the longest of the Peloponnese (Pelopónnisos), Greece, rising near Dhaviá in central Arcadia, with a course of about 70 mi (110 km). Leaving the plain of Megalópolis in a rugged gorge, above which it is known as the Elísson, the Alpheus turns abruptly northwest and eventually empties into the Ionian Sea. Its main tributaries are the Ládhon and Erímanthos. The hydroelectric Ládhon Dam near the village of Trópaia has created a lake 4 sq mi (10 sq km) in area.The shallow, gravelly stream receives its name from the ancient river god of the Peloponnese, Alpheus, whose waters were said to pass beneath the Ionian Sea and rise again in the fountain of Arethusa near Syracuse, Sicily. The legend may well have been inspired by the fact that the river disappears several times into the limestone Arcadian mountains and reemerges after flowing some distance underground.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
