{{Short description|Lake in Western Thrace, Greece}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Lake Vistonida | native_name ={{native name|el|Λίμνη Βιστωνίδα}} | other_name = <!-- Images --> | image = Ο υγροβιότοπος της Βιστωνίδας.jpg | alt = | caption = Vistonida lake | image_bathymetry = | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = <!-- Stats --> | location = Xanthi and Rhodope, Greece | group = | coordinates = {{coord|41.04|25.11|type:waterbody_region:GR|display=inline,title}} | type = lake | etymology = | part_of = | inflow = | rivers = | outflow = | oceans = | catchment = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | basin_countries = | agency = | designation = | date-built = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} For man-made and other recent bodies of water --> | engineer = | date-flooded = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} For man-made and other recent bodies of water --> | length = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | width = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | area = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | depth = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | max-depth = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | volume = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | residence_time = | salinity = | shore = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | elevation = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | temperature_high = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | temperature_low = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> | frozen = | islands = | islands_category = | sections = | trenches = | benches = | cities = Porto Lagos <!-- Map --> | pushpin_map = Greece | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Location of the lake in Greece. | pushpin_map_caption = <!-- Below --> | website = | reference = }}'''Lake Vistonida''' ({{langx|el|Λίμνη Βιστωνίδα}}, older form: Βιστωνίς) is a lake in Western Thrace, Greece. Fed by the Kompsatos river, it encompasses a unique ecosystem and the local climate can be described as mid-Mediterranean. It hosts a variety of fauna, which comprise several types of fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds as well as flora.

== History == In antiquity, the lake was called "Bistonis" (Βιστονίς λίμνη), a great Thracian lake in the country of the Bistones, from whom it derived its name. The water of the lake was brackish and abounded in fish.<ref>Aristotle, History of Animals VIII 13</ref> In Byzantine times, a quarter of its produce is said to have been granted by the emperor Arcadius to the convent of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. The river Cossinites emptied itself into the lake Bistonis, which at one time overflowed the neighbouring country and swept away several Thracian towns."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography|publisher=Little, Brown, and Company|year=1870|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=William|volume=1|location=Boston|pages=403|id=ark:/13960/t14m93874}}</ref>

==See also== * Bistonis, the nymph who lived in that lake with her people * Bistoni, the Thracians who lived near the lake thumb|Sunset at the lake ==Bibliography== *{{cite web|url=http://alex.eled.duth.gr/viotopoi/English/lake_vistonida_and_porto_lagos.htm| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831105137/http://alex.eled.duth.gr/viotopoi/English/lake_vistonida_and_porto_lagos.htm| archivedate=31 August 2009| title=Lake Vistonida and Porto Lagos| publisher=Democritos University of Thrace| accessdate=30 January 2014}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commonscat-inline|Vistonida Lake}}

Vistonida Category:Landforms of Xanthi (regional unit) Category:Landforms of Rhodope (regional unit) Category:Landforms of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Category:Natura 2000 in Greece

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