- Haliacmon
The Haliacmon (Attic: Polytonic|Ἁλιάκμων, "Haliákmōn"; Ionic: "Aliákmōn"; Modern Greek: Αλιάκμονας, "Aliákmonas"; South Slavic: Бистрица, "Bistritsa" or "Bistrica"; Turkish: "İnce Karasu") is the longest river in
Greece , with a total length of 322 km (200 miles). "Haliacmon" is the traditional English name for the river, but many sources cite the formerly officialkatharevousa version of the name, "Aliákmon". Today, the only official variant is the demotic "Aliákmonas".It rises in the northern
Pindus mountains in northern Greece on the border withAlbania , before flowing southeast then northeast through the Greek peripheries of West andCentral Macedonia and then intoLake Kastoria , and into the dam and into theThermaic Gulf . It waters an extensive area, making it of great importance to agriculture in the region. The river forms the western portion of the delta of theAxiós (akaVardar ). The river runs in the prefectures of Kastoria, Grevena, Kozani, Imathia, andPieria .The Haliacmon flows through
Kastoria , Neapoli, west ofSiatista and into the Grevena prefecture and east of Grevena, and to the south of Kozani and into thePolyfytos dam which is 20 km long and about 4 to 5 km wide, and southeast ofAiane , and into the gorges and southeast ofVeria and north ofAiginio and northeast of Methone.In antiquity,
Claudius Ptolemy called the chain of mountains in which the river rises (northernPindus ) the "Canalovii". According toJulius Caesar , the Haliacmon formed the line of demarcation betweenMacedon andThessaly . In the upper part of its course it took a southeast direction throughElimiotis , which it watered; and then, continuing to the northeast, formed the boundary betweenPieria ,Eordaea , and Imathia. In the time ofHerodotus the Haliacmon was apparently joined by theLoudias [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh7120.htm 7, 127] , the discharge of the lake ofPella ; but a change has taken place in the course of the Loudias, which no longer joins the Haliacmon, but flows directly into theAegean Sea . The image below shows awind gap between the Haliacmon and Loudias watersheds that is the probable ancient course of the Haliacmon.It was the domain of the eponymous river god Haliacmon.
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