Hellespont

This occurred to many in Greece, in the cities of Ionia and the Hellespont, where Darius set up rulers in order to hold these cities for his own security and glory.

Leander was a youth of Abydus, a town on the Hellespont, and Hero was Priestess of Aphrodite in Sestus on the opposite shore.

Greek triremes sank his ships at Salamis, and Xerxes fled back across the Hellespont, abandoning his army to destruction.

He was a man of letters but also, like his hero Byron, a man of action — a war hero and a restless adventurer, who even swam the Hellespont when he was 69.

Since then, Mr. Murie said, the business has grown from 90 swimmers a year to more than 2,500 taking trips to more than 30 locations around the globe, including the Hellespont in late August.