Io’s swim names a sea that holds the Mediterranean’s deepest point
The Ionian Sea is an elongated Mediterranean bay between southern Italy—including Sicily and Salento—and the coasts of southern Albania and western Greece. All major eastern islands are Greek: Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada, Ithaca. Calypso Deep here plunges to 5,109 metres—the Mediterranean’s greatest depth.
The Adriatic opens to the north, and Basilicata, Calabria and the Peloponnese frame the other shores. Hydrographers set its northern edge on a line from the Butrinto River mouth in Albania across northern Corfu to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca at Italy’s heel. The southern limit runs from Cape Matapan in Greece to Cape Passero, Sicily’s southern tip, while the eastern boundary traces the mainland shore from Butrinto down to Matapan and the western one hugs eastern Sicily and southeastern Italy. Calypso Deep sits at about 36°34′N 21°8′E, and the whole basin ranks among the most earthquake-prone zones on the planet. Ferries link Patras and Igoumenitsa with Brindisi and Ancona.
Nobody knows for certain where the Greek name Ionion comes from. Aeschylus and other ancient authors tied it to Io, who swam across these waters in myth. The Oxford Classical Dictionary suggests westward-sailing Ionians, though their name is spelled with an omega and the sea’s with an omicron. Other tales credit an Ionius, son of Adrias, namesake of the Adriatic, or a son of Dyrrhachus whom Heracles killed by accident while defending his father, the body being thrown into the sea.
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is its most famous sailor. Greek colonists crossed regularly from at least the eighth century BC to found cities in Italy, and in 31 BC Octavian defeated Mark Antony at Actium on its waters. Later naval battles over the eastern islands ended with Greece in control, while Italy has held the western side since 1861.
Source: Ionian Sea
