Struma River

Strymon redirects here. For the Strymon Gulf, see Strymonian Gulf. For the butterfly genus, see Strymon (butterfly).

Struma (Струма), Strymónas (Στρυμόνας)
The course of the Struma in Bulgaria
Origin	The south slopes of Vitosha, Bulgaria
Mouth	Aegean Sea, Greece 40°47′9″N 23°50′56″E / 40.78583°N 23.84889°E / 40.78583; 23.84889Coordinates: 40°47′9″N 23°50′56″E / 40.78583°N 23.84889°E / 40.78583; 23.84889
Basin countries	Bulgaria, Greece
Length	415 km
Source elevation	2,180 m
Avg. discharge	from 2,117 m³/s at Pernik to 76,167 m³/s at Marino pole
Basin area	10,797 km² in Bulgaria

The Struma or Strymónas (Bulgarian Струма, pronounced [ˈstruma], Greek Στρυμόνας [striˈmonas], Turkish (Struma) Karasu 'black water') is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymōn (Greek: Στρυμών /stry'mɔːn/). Its catchment area is 10,800 km². It takes its source from the Vitosha Mountain in Bulgaria, runs first westward, then southward, enters Greek territory at the Kula village and flows into the Aegean Sea, near Amphipolis in the Serres prefecture. The river's length is 415 km (of which 290 km in Bulgaria, making it the country's fifth longest).

A bridge over the Struma in Bulgaria

The river valley is a coal-producing area of Bulgaria. The Greek portion is a valley which is dominant in agriculture, being Greece's fourth biggest valley. The tributaries include the Rila River, the Dragovishtitsa, the Blagoevgradska Bistritsa, the Konska River, the Sandanska Bistritsa and the Aggitis River.

The Ancient Greek city of Amphipolis was founded near the river's entrance to the Aegean, at the site previously known as Ennea Odoi (Nine roads}. When Xerxes I of Persia crossed the river during his invasion in 480 BC he buried alive nine young boys and nine maidens as a sacrifice to the river god.^[1] The forces of Alexander I of Macedon defeated the remnants of Xerxes' army near Ennea Odoi in 479 BC. In 424 BC the Spartan general Brasidas after crossing the entire Greek peninsula sieged and conquered Amphipolis. The Battle of Kleidion was fought by the river in 1014.

Struma near the city of Blagoevgrad in winter

In 1913, the Greek Army was trapped in the Kresna Gorge of the Struma during the Second Balkan War. The Bulgarians were defeated in the war, however, and the Treaty of Bucharest resulted in significant territorial losses for Bulgaria.

The river valley was part of the Macedonian front in World War I.

The ship Struma, which carried Jewish refugees out of Romania in World War II and subsequently sunk in the Black Sea, causing nearly 800 deaths, is named after the river.

The river's name comes from Thracian Strymón, derived from IE *sru "stream" ^[2], akin to English stream, Old Irish sruaimm "river", Lithuanian straumuoe "fast stream", Greek reuma "stream", Albanian rrymë "water flow", shri "rain".

Honour

Struma Glacier on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Struma River.

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Struma River

• Livius.org: Strymon