ALIAKMON RIVER

Modern Greek Alikmon Potams, river, the longest in Greek Macedonia. The river's total length is 185 miles (297 km). Rising in the Grmmos Mountains of the eastern Pindus Range on the Albanian frontier, the Alikmon River flows southeast through gentle valleys and basins and is joined by a tributary, sometimes also called the Alikmon, which rises near the Albanian border. After collecting the drainage of Lake Kastoras, its flow is confined to narrow gorges during much of its middle course along the base of the easternmost Pindus. Near Sitista it receives the Pramortsa River and, farther south, the Ventikos. Swinging around the southern end of the Vorinos Mountains, the Alikmon is forced into a wide loop toward the northeast by the northeastsouthwest-trending Kamvonia massif. Emerging from between the Vrmion and Piria mountains, the Alikmon traverses the Thessalonki (Salonika) plain, through which it apparently was navigable by small ships in the Middle Ages; but today a hydroelectric dam south of Vroia is a barrier to river traffic. Near Vroia the Alikmon is joined by a last tributary, the Moglentsas, which drains the entire western Thessalonki plain; together they debouch into the upper Gulf of Thrmai on the Aegean Sea. Formerly called by its Macedonian name, Vistrtsa (Bistrtsa), the Alikmon, throughout history, has served as a natural line of defense against invaders from the north, most recently in 1941 during World War II, when a New Zealand brigade was able to hold it briefly against the German forces invading Greece.