Skip to content
Alfeios
EntityQ941745· pop 33· linked from 160 articles

Also known as Alpheus

The Alpheios (, , Latin Alpheus), sometimes spelled Alfeiós, is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Peloponnesus of Greece, and flowing to the northwest to the vicinity of Olympia, where it turns to the west and, after being impounded by the Flokas Dam, a hydroelectric facility, empties into the Gulf of Kyparissia of the Ionian Sea south of Pyrgos. The entrance into the gulf through agricultural land and across an unpopulated, sandy beach partially blocked by a spit is hydrolog

Key facts

River.name
Alpheios
River.name_other
Alpheus (Latinized), Alphios (Anglicized)
River.name_etymology
"whitewater" (Frisk under Ἀλφός, "white")
River.image
Alpheios - Pyrris Arkadias.jpg
River.image_size
300px
River.image_caption
Lower Alpheios
River.image_alt
A stretch of the upper Alpheios
River.map
File:Alfios.png
River.map_size
300px
River.map_caption
Topographical map showing the Alpheios and its major tributaries.
River.map_alt
Map of the Alphaios River
River.source1
Alpheios
River.source1_location
Falaisia
River.mouth
Ionian Sea
River.mouth_location
Gulf of Kyparissia
River.subdivision_type1
Country
River.subdivision_name1
Greece
River.subdivision_type2
Regional units

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Elevation
2
Image
112Alpheos rivier.jpg
Length
120
Show 3 more facts
Commons category
Alpheios
watershed area
3600
native label
Αλφειός
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~22 min read

Article

13 sections
Contents
  • Hydrologic characteristics
  • Classification of the Alpheios
  • Classification by catchment area
  • Classification by zone
  • River morphology
  • The question of the source
  • Stages of the river
  • The Alpheios in antiquity
  • In mythology
  • In literature
  • References
  • Reference bibliography
  • External links

The Alpheios (, , Latin Alpheus), sometimes spelled Alfeiós, is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Peloponnesus of Greece, and flowing to the northwest to the vicinity of Olympia, where it turns to the west and, after being impounded by the Flokas Dam, a hydroelectric facility, empties into the Gulf of Kyparissia of the Ionian Sea south of Pyrgos. The entrance into the gulf through agricultural land and across an unpopulated, sandy beach partially blocked by a spit is hydrologically unspectacular, with the water too shallow to be navigable by any but the smallest craft.

The concept of a single source has little meaning for most of the rivers of Greece, which begin as a confluence of multiple springs in the mountain valleys. There is almost never just one, although most may be unreported or neglected. Thus it is appropriate to speak "a source" or "the sources" but never "the source."

Gallery (4)

On the map

30 mapped locations

Connections

Categories