Overview
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas. The sea has an area of some 215,000 square kilometres.
Description
In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea by the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. Aegean Sea, Greek Aigaíon Pélagos, Turkish Ege Deniz, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek peninsula on the west and Asia Minor on the east. About 380 miles (612 km) long and 186 miles (299 km) wide, it has a total area of some 83,000 square miles (215,000 square km). The Aegean is connected through the straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus to the Black Sea, while the island of Crete can be taken as marking its boundary on the south. The cradle of two of the great early civilizations, those of Crete and Greece, from which much of modern Western culture is derived, the Aegean Sea is also an important natural feature of the Mediterranean region, possessing several unique characteristics that make it of considerable scientific interest.