Shorelines displacement in the Saronic gulf area during the last 18.000 years and the Kihrea Paleolake

Abstract

The wider area of Attica region and generally the Saronic Gulf contains a significant part of the history and mythology of the ancient Hellenic world. Without overreacting, it could be said that it is one of the most sacred regions of Ancient Greece and perhaps is the only region in the whole world that is related to the birth of so many gods, goddesses and heroes. This fact is linked to the paleo-climatic and geo-environmental changes that have been taken place in the Aegean and Peri-Aegean area and especially in the Saronic Gulf. As it is known, during the last 18000 years, which is after the end of the last glacial period, the climatic changes related to temperature rise had as a consequence the rise of the sea level by 125 m at least. The sea level rise had as a result significant changes in the natural environment and mainly to the distribution of coastlines and coastal areas. The rise of the sea level had also as a result the flooding of closed hydrological basins with changes in their physico-geographical function by changing them initially to lakes and in time to basins. Prehistoric man witnessed these changes in his environment and he attributed them to various gods, sometimes to destructive gods and sometimes to protective ones. All these are mentioned in several myths of Greek mythology. Therefore, the aim of this paper is the correlation of several of those myths with the physicogeographical and geological changes that took place mainly during prehistoric times in order to attempt their interpretation. We will try to approach the mythological relationship of Salamis nymph, the daughter of Asopos river and Metopi, with god Poseidon, in relation to the physicogeographical changes in the greater area between the island of Salamis and Elefsis area during the last 18000 years. The area which, nowadays, is being occupying by the bay of Elefsis. In this area 18.000 years BP there was a closed hydrological basin, which is a morphological depression that did not communicate with the sea, during that time the Saronic Gulf shoreline was located about 30 km away. The data collected up to today do not allow us to say that it was a lake during that period, however, something very possible especially during 10000 BP and 5000 BP. We named this paleo-lake "Kichrea Lake" as a tribute towards Kihreas, the son of Poseidon and Salamis nymph. At this point it is worth mentioning that Salamina and her sister Aegina were both daughters of Asopos river, a river that is located in Aegina Island and that today unfortunately has been renamed to Skoteini stream.