Saturday, November 11, 2006

Marathon Dam

This magnificent piece of work is unique in the world because its external cladding of white pentelikon marble is the same marble used in construction of the Parthenon and the other buildings in the Acropolis. Works for the dam started in 1929. The man-made lake was the main water supply for Athens from 1931 to 1959. Now it serves as a secondary supply.
It's 5 minutes drive from Marathon village and the site of the historic battle of Marathon where the Greeks defeated the Persians. The Marathon Race name originates from that battle. See here why.
Cars can drive through the top of the dam.
In greek, Marathon means fennel.
See the site on the map

5 comments:

magikthrill said...

is the primary source the Mornos dam in western Greece or am I mitaken?

E.I. said...

nice blog

πρέπει να το δω το φράγμα από κοντά, ντροπή μου, τόσα χρόνια στην Αθήνα...

Ovelikios said...

magic
I am not sure

e.i.
and when you go there, don't forget to walk on the lakeshore. It's magic

Anonymous said...

This post is wonderful, I learned a lot through it. The first picture is absolutely spectacular!!!!! White marble for a dam, now that's exceptional indeed. And I had no idea marathon means fennel in greek. Thanks!

Jing said...

like the photos of this beautiful dam!!
:D
looks great and beautiful!
and very interesting information about it too!!
jing from shanghai