This project is co – funded by European Union.

ESPERINO GENIKO LYKEIO LAMIAS

A popular Greek legend talks about a mermaid who lived in the Aegean Sea for thousands of years and was thought to be Alexander’s the Great half sister, Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki loved Alexander very much so she asked a wise man what she could do so that her brother to become immortal. He told her only the immortal water could do that but it was extremely difficult to acquire it because she must pass between two mountains hitting each other endlessly, even a bird cannot pass and then she must kill the dragon that guarded the water. The immortal water should be given to Alexander on the verge of his death when there would not be any hope of becoming better and not before.

Alexander became seriously ill and the doctors could do nothing for him. Thessaloniki who did not want her beloved brother to die decided to put the immortal water into his wine and give it to him. Alexander preferred his wine without water and when he saw his sister doing so he secretly changed the glasses and as a result Thessaloniki drank the wine with the immortal water. When Alexander the Great died, his grief –stricken sister attempted to end her life by jumping into the sea. Instead of drowning, however, she became a mermaid wondering around the seas throughout the centuries and asking the sailors about her brother.

She would always ask the same question to the sailors who encountered her: “Does King Alexander live?” and to which the correct answer would be: “He lives and reigns and conquers the world.” Given this answer Thessaloniki would stop the wind and allow the ship and the crew to sail safely away in calm seas. If the sailor did not know and said: “He died” she would be transformed into a raging creature creating big waves and sink the ship sending it and every sailor on board to the bottom of the sea.