Aegean Sea

Aegean Sea (Greek Aigaion, Turkish Ege) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea and it is located between Greek peninsula and Anatolia (Asia Minor) of Turkey. It is connected to the Marmara and Black Seas by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. As the birthplace of two ancient great civilizations (Crete and Greece), the Aegean Sea was later inhabited by Persians, Romans, Seljuk Turks and Ottoman Empire. In ancient ages, the Aegean islands have made the area the craddle of civilization and a sample model for today’s democratic states, by providing opportunity for sea travels, trade and exchange of knowledge. The combination of several diverse civilizations of Eastern Mediterranean region has thus been possible with this special geographic feature. The islands can be simply divided into seven groups: the Thracian Sea group, the East Aegean group, the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades, the Saronic Islands, the Dodecanese and Crete.